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Capital: The capital of the United States is Washington D.C., also know as the District of Columbia. It is situated on the north bank of the Potomac River and comprises around 68 square miles in between the states of Maryland and Virginia.
Location: The United States of America is located in North America, and is bordered by Canada in the north, the North Atlantic Ocean on the east, Mexico in the south, and the North Pacific Ocean in the west.
Size: The total area of the United States is approximately 9.83 million square kilometers and ranks as the third largest country in the world behind Russia and Canada. The total land mass is comparable to the area of China, which is sometimes ranked above the United States in certain land area calculations.
Climate: Given that the United States is such a large and expansive nation its climate is very diverse. While a large portion of the country can be described as temperate, there are climates described as tropical found in Florida and Hawaii, semiarid in the great plains near the Mississippi River, arid near the Great Basin in the southwest, and finally arctic in the state of Alaska. As such, temperatures depend on ones location in the country with winters in the Northeastern and Great Lake states being harsh and well below freezing, to summers in many parts of the country being very hot and humid.
Population: The population of the United States is roughly 307.2 million people, and this ranks 3rd or 4th globally depending on whether the European Union is counted in the list or not.
Life expectancy at birth: The average life expectancy at birth in the United States is 78.11 years, and this ranks 50th in the world.
Prevalence of HIV/AIDS: Roughly 0.6% of the United States population has HIV/AIDS. This amounts to around 1.2 million people that are living with the illness, which is one of the highest figures in the world at 9th place.
Major illnesses: The degree of major illness in the U.S. is moderate. West Nile virus is common in the country and there have also been outbreaks of eastern equine encephalitis reported. Most recently the A (H1N1) swine flu has been reported in all 50 states.
Ethnic Groups: The United States is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world. The percentage of its ethnic groups is as follows: white (80.0%), black (12.85%), Asian (4.43%), Amerindian and Alaskan (0.97%), native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (0.18%), and mixed race (1.61%). It is important to note that of these percentages there is a separate amount of Hispanic persons who originate from Latin America (which includes Cubans, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans) who may be of any ethnic group or race. The percentage of Hispanics in the U.S. is roughly 15.1%.
Languages: The majority of Americans speak English (82.1%) although there is no official language in the country. Other languages include Spanish (10.7%), Indo-European (3.8%), Asian and Pacific Island (2.7%) and others (0.7%).
Religion: The United States consists of a diverse number of religions that are all practiced without any government intervention. These religions include Protestant (51.3%), Roman Catholic (23.9%), Mormon (1.7%), other Christian (1.6%), Jewish (1.7%), Buddhist (0.7%), Muslim (0.6%), other or unspecified (2.5%), unaffiliated (12.1%) and none (4%).
Government: The United States of America is a Constitution-based federal republic, and is the oldest surviving federation in the world. The government is divided into three branches, the judicial, legislative, and executive. Each of these branches use a system of checks and balances to ensure a balance of power between the three. Americans are governed by three levels of government, federal, state and local. The legislative branch consists of a bicameral congress made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Judicial branch is composed of the Supreme Court and local district courts. And finally the Executive branch is run by the President, who is the commander-in-chief of the military as well as the leader of the Cabinet, or ministers who enforce policies and other laws.
Head of State: The Head of State is United States President Barack Obama. The president is in charge of most state proceedings and meetings with foreign leaders and dignitaries, as well as making speeches about the state of the union to congress and to the American people.
Head of Government: The Head of Government is the President of the United States Barack Obama. The president is the leader of the executive branch of government and has the power to check congress for any bills and regulations that may be deemed unconstitutional or detrimental to the country.
Military: The United States has the largest and most powerful military in the world, accounting for roughly 50% of global military spending. There are approximately 1.38 million personnel on active duty, and a grand total of 2.3 million troops through the various branches of the armed forces (Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force). The per capita spending for military services was $1,756 which is ten times the world average. Military spending accounts for 4.06% of the GDP and ranks 27th worldwide.
Economy: The United States has the largest and most powerful economy in the world. Its gross domestic product constitutes around 23% of the gross world product at market exchange rates. The country’s nominal per capita GDP ranks 7th at $48,000. The States is the largest importer of goods and the third largest exporter, with its top trading partners including China, Mexico, Canada, Japan and Germany. The largest export product is electrical machinery, while automotives make up the largest import. The private sector makes up 55.3% of the economy, while the federal government constitutes 24.1% and state and local activities make up the final 20.6%. The New York Stock exchange is the world’s largest in terms of monetary volume. Overall, the United States still tops the Global Competitive Report list, showing its continued dominance over all other world economies.
GDP: The United States has a GDP purchasing power parity of US$ 14.33 trillion, ranking 1st globally and is larger than the GDP of the next 14 nations combined.
The United States of America is the world’s perennial global economic, political, military, and cultural superpower. It will continue to hold this lofty position of influence well into the 21st century.
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