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The United States of America
President: George W. Bush (2001)
Vice President: Richard B. Cheney (2001)
Land area: 3,539,225 sq mi (9,166,601 sq km);
total area: 3,718,691 sq mi (9,631,420 sq km)
Population (2007 est.): 301,139,947
(growth rate: 0.9%); birth rate: 14.2/1000; infant mortality rate:
6.4/1000; life expectancy: 78.0; density per sq mi: 85
Capital (2003 est.):
Washington, DC, 570,898
Largest cities (2003 est.): New
York, 18,498,000 (metro area), 8,085,742 (city proper); Los Angeles,
12,146,000 (metro area), 3,819,951 (city proper); Chicago, 8,711,000
(metro area), 2,869,121 (city proper); Houston, 2,009,960;
Philadelphia, 1,479,339; Phoenix, 1,388,416; San Diego, 1,226,753;
San Antonio, 1,214,725; Dallas, 1,208,318; Detroit, 911,402
Monetary unit: dollar
Languages:
English 82%, Spanish 11% (2000)
Ethnicity/race: White: 211,460,626 (75.1%);
Black: 34,658,190 (12.3%); Asian: 10,242,998 (3.6%); American Indian
and Alaska Native: 2,475,956 (0.9%); Native Hawaiian and other
Pacific Islander: 398,835 (0.1%); other race: 15,359,073 (5.5%);
Hispanic origin:1 35,305,818 (12.5%)
Religions:
Protestant 52%, Roman Catholic 24%, Mormon 2%,
Jewish 1%, Muslim 1%, none 10% (2002)
Literacy rate: 97% (1979 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005
est.): $12.41 trillion; per capita $42,000. Real growth rate:
3.5%. Inflation: 3.2%. Unemployment: 5.1%.
Arable land: 18%. Agriculture: wheat, corn, other grains,
fruits, vegetables, cotton; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products;
fish; forest products. Labor force: 149.3 million (includes
unemployed); farming, forestry, and fishing 0.7%, manufacturing,
extraction, transportation, and crafts 22.9%, managerial,
professional, and technical 34.7%, sales and office 25.4%, other
services 16.3%; note: figures exclude the unemployed (2005).
Industries: leading industrial power in the world, highly
diversified and technologically advanced; petroleum, steel, motor
vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics,
food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining. Natural
resources: coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, uranium,
bauxite, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten,
zinc, petroleum, natural gas, timber. Exports: $927.5 billion
f.o.b. (2005 est.): agricultural products 9.2% (soybeans, fruit,
corn), industrial supplies 26.8% (organic chemicals), capital goods
49.0% (transistors, aircraft, motor vehicle parts, computers,
telecommunications equipment), consumer goods 15.0% (automobiles,
medicines) (2003). Imports: $1.727 trillion f.o.b. (2005
est.): agricultural products 4.9%, industrial supplies 32.9% (crude
oil 8.2%), capital goods 30.4% (computers, telecommunications
equipment, motor vehicle parts, office machines, electric power
machinery), consumer goods 31.8% (automobiles, clothing, medicines,
furniture, toys) (2003). Major trading partners: Canada,
Mexico, Japan, UK, China, Germany (2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 194 million (1997); mobile cellular: 69.209 million (1998).
Radio broadcast stations: AM about 5,000, FM about 5,000,
shortwave 18 (1998). Radios: 575 million (1997).
Television broadcast stations: more than 1,500 (including
nearly 1,000 stations affiliated with the five major
networks—NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and PBS; in addition, there are
about 9,000 cable TV systems) (1997). Televisions: 219
million (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 7,000
(2002 est.). Internet users: 165.75 million (2002).
Transportation: Railways: total: 194,731
km mainline routes (2000). Highways: total: 6,334,859 km;
paved: 3,737,567 km (including 89,426 km of expressways); unpaved:
2,597,292 km (2000). Waterways: 41,009 km of navigable inland
channels, exclusive of the Great Lakes. Ports and harbors:
Anchorage, Baltimore, Boston, Charleston, Chicago, Duluth, Hampton
Roads, Honolulu, Houston, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, New Orleans,
New York, Philadelphia, Port Canaveral, Portland (Oregon), Prudhoe
Bay, San Francisco, Savannah, Seattle, Tampa, Toledo. Airports:
14,801 (2002).
International disputes: prolonged
drought in the Mexico border region has strained water-sharing
arrangements; 1990 Maritime Boundary Agreement in the Bering Sea
awaits Russian Duma ratification; maritime boundary disputes with
Canada at Dixon Entrance, Beaufort Sea, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and
around the disputed Machias Seal Island and North Rock; The Bahamas
have not been able to agree on a maritime boundary; US Naval Base at
Guantanamo Bay is leased from Cuba and only mutual agreement or US
abandonment of the area can terminate the lease; Haiti claims
Navassa Island; US has made no territorial claim in Antarctica (but
has reserved the right to do so) and does not recognize the claims
of any other state; Marshall Islands claims Wake Island.
1. Persons of Hispanic origin can be
of any race.
Major sources and definitions
U.S. Territories and Outlying Areas
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