Map of United States | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
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Background: Buoyed by victories in World Wars I and II and the end of the Cold War in 1991, the US remains the world's most powerful nation-state. The economy is marked by steady growth, low unemployment, low inflation, and rapid advances in technology. The biggest cloud over this affluent society is the distribution of gains_since 1975 most of the increase in national income has gone to the 20% of people at the top of the income ladder.


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Location: North America, between Canada and Mexico

Geographic coordinates

Map reference: North America, Standard Time Zones of the World

Area
Total: 9,372,610 km²
Land: 9,166,600 km²

Land boundaries:

Coastline: 19,924 km
Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Continental shelf: 200 m or depth of exploitation
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Maritime claims

Climate: mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida and arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains

Terrain: vast central plain, mountains in west, hills and low mountains in east; rugged mountains and broad river valleys in Alaska; rugged, volcanic topography in Hawaii

Elevation

Natural resources: coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, petroleum, natural gas, timber

Land use
Arable land: 20%
Permanent crops: 0%
Meadows and pastures: 26%
Forest and woodland: 29%
Other: 25%

Irrigated land: 181,020 km² (1989 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography


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Population: 258,103,721 (July 1993 est.)
Growth rate: 1.02% (1993 est.)

Nationality
Noun: American(s)
Adjective: American

Ethnic groups: white 83.4%, black 12.4%, asian 3.3%, native american 0.8% (1992)

Languages: English, Spanish (spoken by a sizable minority)

Religions: Protestant 56%, Roman Catholic 28%, Jewish 2%, other 4%, none 10% (1989)

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 1.02% (1993 est.)

Birth rate: 15.48 births/1000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate: 8.67 deaths/1000 population (1993 est.)

Net migration rate: 3.41 migrant(s)/1000 population (1993 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: pollution control measures improving air and water quality; agricultural fertilizer and pesticide pollution; management of sparse natural water resources in west; desertification; tsunamis, volcanoes, and earthquake activity around Pacific Basin; permafrost in northern Alaska is a major impediment to development
Current issues note: world's fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and China)

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 8.36 deaths/1000 live births (1993 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Male: 72.49 years
Female: 79.29 years (1993 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.05 children born/woman (1993 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: age 15 and over having completed 5 or more years of schooling (1991)
Total population: 97.9%
Male: 97.9%
Female: 97.9%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: United States of America
Conventional short form: United States
Abbreviation: US or USA

Government type: federal republic; strong democratic tradition

Capital: Washington, DC

Administrative divisions:

Dependent areas: (14) American Samoa, Baker Island, Guam, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, Navassa Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palmyra Atoll, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Wake Island

Independence: 4 July 1776 (from England)

National holiday: Independence Day, 4 July (1776)

Constitution: 17 September 1787, effective 4 June 1789

Legal system: based on English common law; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: president, vice president, Cabinet

Legislative branch: bicameral Congress consists of an upper house or Senate and a lower house or House of Representatives

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:

Diplomatic representation

Flag description: thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white; there is a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing 50 small white five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternating with rows of five stars; the 50 stars represent the 50 states, the 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies; known as Old Glory; the design and colors have been the basis for a number of other flags including Chile, Liberia, Malaysia, and Puerto Rico

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: The US has the most powerful, diverse, and technologically advanced economy in the world, with a per capita GDP of $23,400, the largest among major industrial nations. The economy is market oriented with most decisions made by private individuals and business firms and with government purchases of goods and services made predominantly in the marketplace. In 1989 the economy enjoyed its seventh successive year of substantial growth, the longest in peacetime history. The expansion featured moderation in wage and consumer price increases and a steady reduction in unemployment to 5.2% of the labor force. In 1990, however, growth slowed to 1% because of a combination of factors, such as the worldwide increase in interest rates, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August, the subsequent spurt in oil prices, and a general decline in business and consumer confidence. In 1991 output fell by 1%, unemployment grew, and signs of recovery proved premature. Growth picked up to 2.1% in 1992. Unemployment, however, remained at nine million, the increase in GDP being mainly attributable to gains in output per worker. Ongoing problems for the 1990s include inadequate investment in economic infrastructure, rapidly rising medical costs, and sizable budget and trade deficits.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 2.1% (1992)

Real gdp per capita ppp

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for 2% of GDP and 2.8% of labor force; favorable climate and soils support a wide variety of crops and livestock production; world's second largest producer and number one exporter of grain; surplus food producer; fish catch of 4.4 million metric tons (1990)

Industries: leading industrial power in the world, highly diversified; petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining

Industrial production growth rate:

Labor force: 128.548 million (includes armed forces and unemployed; civilian labor force 126.982 million) (1992)
By occupation: NA

Unemployment rate: 7% (April 1993)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $1,092 billion; expenditures $1,382 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY92)

Public debt

Taxes and other revenues

Revenue

Fiscal year: 1 October - 30 September

Current account balance

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $442.3 billion (f.o.b., 1992)
Commodoties: capital goods, automobiles, industrial supplies and raw materials, consumer goods, agricultural products
Partners: Western Europe 27.3%, Canada 22.1%, Japan 12.1% (1989)

Imports: $544.1 billion (c.i.f., 1992) automobiles, consumer goods, industrial raw materials, food and beverages
Partners: Western Europe 21.5%, Japan 19.7%, Canada 18.8% (1989)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates


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Electricity access

Electricity production: 780,000,000 kW capacity; 3,230,000 million kWh produced, 12,690 kWh per capita (1992)

Electricity consumption

Electricity exports

Electricity imports

Electricity installed generating capacity

Electricity transmission distribution losses

Electricity generation sources

Petroleum

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones fixed lines

Telephones mobile cellular

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet country code

Internet users

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp:

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 14,177
Usable: 12,417
With permanentsurface runways: 4,820
With runways over 3659 m: 63
With runways 2440-3659 m: 325
With runways 1220-2439 m: 2,524

Airports with paved runways

Airports with unpaved runways

Heliports

Pipelines: petroleum 276,000 km (1991), natural gas 331,000 km (1991)

Railways

Roadways

Waterways

Merchant marine:

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international:

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: illicit producer of cannabis for domestic consumption with 1987 production estimated at 3,500 metric tons or about 25% of the available marijuana; ongoing eradication program aimed at small plots and greenhouses has not reduced production