Britain's American colonies broke with the mother country in 1776 and were recognized as the new nation of the United States of America following the Treaty of Paris in 1783. During the 19th and 20th centuries, 37 new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the North American continent and acquired a number of overseas possessions. The two most traumatic experiences in the nation's history were the Civil War (1861-65), in which a northern Union of states defeated a secessionist Confederacy of 11 southern slave states, and the Great Depression of the 1930s, an economic downturn during which about a quarter of the labor force lost its jobs. 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. Since the end of World War II, the economy has achieved relatively steady growth, low unemployment and inflation, and rapid advances in technology.
" } }, "Geography": { "Location": { "text": "North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico" }, "Geographic coordinates": { "text": "38 00 N, 97 00 W" }, "Map references": { "text": "North America" }, "Area": { "total": { "text": "9,833,517 sq km" }, "land": { "text": "9,147,593 sq km" }, "water": { "text": "685,924 sq km" }, "note": "note: includes only the 50 states and District of Columbia, no overseas territories" }, "Area - comparative": { "text": "about half the size of Russia; about three-tenths the size of Africa; about half the size of South America (or slightly larger than Brazil); slightly larger than China; more than twice the size of the European Union" }, "Land boundaries": { "total": { "text": "12,002 km" }, "border countries": { "text": "Canada 8,891 km (including 2,475 km with Alaska); Mexico 3,111 km" }, "note": "note: US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is leased by the US and is part of Cuba; the base boundary is 28.5 km" }, "Coastline": { "text": "19,924 km" }, "Maritime claims": { "territorial sea": { "text": "12 nm" }, "contiguous zone": { "text": "24 nm" }, "exclusive economic zone": { "text": "200 nm" }, "continental shelf": { "text": "not specified" } }, "Climate": { "text": "mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, 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", "note": "note: many consider Denali, the highest peak in the US, to be the world’s coldest mountain because of its combination of high elevation and its subarctic location at 63 degrees north latitude; permanent snow and ice cover over 75 percent of the mountain, and enormous glaciers, up to 45 miles long and 3,700 feet thick, spider out from its base in every direction; it is home to some of the world’s coldest and most violent weather, where winds of over 150 miles per hour and temperatures of -93˚F have been recorded. " }, "Terrain": { "text": "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": { "highest point": { "text": "Denali 6,190 m (Mount McKinley) (highest point in North America)" }, "lowest point": { "text": "Death Valley (lowest point in North America) -86 m" }, "mean elevation": { "text": "760 m" }, "note": "note: Denali is one of the most striking features on the entire planet; at 20,310 feet, it is the crowning peak of the Alaska Range and the highest mountain on North America; it towers three and one-half vertical miles above its base, making it a mile taller from base to summit than Mt. Everest; Denali's base sits at about 2,000 feet above sea level and rises over three and one-half miles to its 20,310 foot summit; Everest begins on a 14,000-foot high plain, then summits at 29,028 feet.Missouri - 3,768 km; Mississippi - 3,544 km; Yukon river mouth (shared with Canada [s]) - 3,190 km; Saint Lawrence (shared with Canada) - 3,058 km; Rio Grande river source ( mouth shared with Mexico) - 3,057 km; Colorado river source (shared with Mexico [m]) - 2,333 km; Arkansas - 2,348 km; Columbia river mouth (shared with Canada [s]) - 2,250 km; Red - 2,188 km; Ohio - 2,102 km; Snake - 1,670 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth
tsunamis; volcanoes; earthquake activity around Pacific Basin; hurricanes along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts; tornadoes in the Midwest and Southeast; mud slides in California; forest fires in the west; flooding; permafrost in northern Alaska, a major impediment to development
volcanism: volcanic activity in the Hawaiian Islands, Western Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and in the Northern Mariana Islands; both Mauna Loa (4,170 m) in Hawaii and Mount Rainier (4,392 m) in Washington have been deemed Decade Volcanoes by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to their explosive history and close proximity to human populations; Pavlof (2,519 m) is the most active volcano in Alaska's Aleutian Arc and poses a significant threat to air travel since the area constitutes a major flight path between North America and East Asia; St. Helens (2,549 m), famous for the devastating 1980 eruption, remains active today; numerous other historically active volcanoes exist, mostly concentrated in the Aleutian arc and Hawaii; they include: in Alaska: Aniakchak, Augustine, Chiginagak, Fourpeaked, Iliamna, Katmai, Kupreanof, Martin, Novarupta, Redoubt, Spurr, Wrangell, Trident, Ugashik-Peulik, Ukinrek Maars, Veniaminof; in Hawaii: Haleakala, Kilauea, Loihi; in the Northern Mariana Islands: Anatahan; and in the Pacific Northwest: Mount Baker, Mount Hood; see note 2 under \"Geography - note\"
" }, "Geography - note": { "text": "note 1: world's third-largest country by size (after Russia and Canada) and by population (after China and India); Denali (Mt. McKinley) is the highest point (6,190 m) in North America and Death Valley the lowest point (-86 m) on the continent
note 2: the western coast of the United States and southern coast of Alaska lie along the Ring of Fire, a belt of active volcanoes and earthquake epicenters bordering the Pacific Ocean; up to 90% of the world's earthquakes and some 75% of the world's volcanoes occur within the Ring of Fire
note 3: the Aleutian Islands are a chain of volcanic islands that divide the Bering Sea (north) from the main Pacific Ocean (south); they extend about 1,800 km westward from the Alaskan Peninsula; the archipelago consists of 14 larger islands, 55 smaller islands, and hundreds of islets; there are 41 active volcanoes on the islands, which together form a large northern section of the Ring of Fire
note 4: Mammoth Cave, in west-central Kentucky, is the world's longest known cave system with more than 650 km (405 miles) of surveyed passageways, which is nearly twice as long as the second-longest cave system, the Sac Actun underwater cave in Mexico - the world's longest underwater cave system (see \"Geography - note\" under Mexico);
note 5: Kazumura Cave on the island of Hawaii is the world's longest and deepest lava tube cave; it has been surveyed at 66 km (41 mi) long and 1,102 m (3,614 ft) deep
note 6: Bracken Cave outside of San Antonio, Texas is the world's largest bat cave; it is the summer home to the largest colony of bats in the world; an estimated 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats roost in the cave from March to October making it the world's largest known concentration of mammals
note 7: the US is reliant on foreign imports for 100% of its needs for the following strategic resources - Arsenic, Cesium, Fluorspar, Gallium, Graphite, Indium, Manganese, Niobium, Rare Earths, Rubidium, Scandium, Tantalum, Yttrium; see Appendix H: Strategic Materials for further details
note 8: three food crops are generally acknowledged to be native to areas of what is now the United States: cranberries, pecans, and sunflowers
Missouri - 3,768 km; Mississippi - 3,544 km; Yukon river mouth (shared with Canada [s]) - 3,190 km; Saint Lawrence (shared with Canada) - 3,058 km; Rio Grande river source ( mouth shared with Mexico) - 3,057 km; Colorado river source (shared with Mexico [m]) - 2,333 km; Arkansas - 2,348 km; Columbia river mouth (shared with Canada [s]) - 2,250 km; Red - 2,188 km; Ohio - 2,102 km; Snake - 1,670 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth
The US has the most technologically powerful economy in the world, with a per capita GDP of $59,500. US firms are at or near the forefront in technological advances, especially in computers, pharmaceuticals, and medical, aerospace, and military equipment; however, their advantage has narrowed since the end of World War II. Based on a comparison of GDP measured at purchasing power parity conversion rates, the US economy in 2014, having stood as the largest in the world for more than a century, slipped into second place behind China, which has more than tripled the US growth rate for each year of the past four decades.
In the US, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. US business firms enjoy greater flexibility than their counterparts in Western Europe and Japan in decisions to expand capital plant, to lay off surplus workers, and to develop new products. At the same time, businesses face higher barriers to enter their rivals' home markets than foreign firms face entering US markets.
Long-term problems for the US include stagnation of wages for lower-income families, inadequate investment in deteriorating infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population, energy shortages, and sizable current account and budget deficits.
The onrush of technology has been a driving factor in the gradual development of a \"two-tier\" labor market in which those at the bottom lack the education and the professional/technical skills of those at the top and, more and more, fail to get comparable pay raises, health insurance coverage, and other benefits. But the globalization of trade, and especially the rise of low-wage producers such as China, has put additional downward pressure on wages and upward pressure on the return to capital. Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20% of households. Since 1996, dividends and capital gains have grown faster than wages or any other category of after-tax income.
Imported oil accounts for more than 50% of US consumption and oil has a major impact on the overall health of the economy. Crude oil prices doubled between 2001 and 2006, the year home prices peaked; higher gasoline prices ate into consumers' budgets and many individuals fell behind in their mortgage payments. Oil prices climbed another 50% between 2006 and 2008, and bank foreclosures more than doubled in the same period. Besides dampening the housing market, soaring oil prices caused a drop in the value of the dollar and a deterioration in the US merchandise trade deficit, which peaked at $840 billion in 2008. Because the US economy is energy-intensive, falling oil prices since 2013 have alleviated many of the problems the earlier increases had created.
The sub-prime mortgage crisis, falling home prices, investment bank failures, tight credit, and the global economic downturn pushed the US into a recession by mid-2008. GDP contracted until the third quarter of 2009, the deepest and longest downturn since the Great Depression. To help stabilize financial markets, the US Congress established a $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program in October 2008. The government used some of these funds to purchase equity in US banks and industrial corporations, much of which had been returned to the government by early 2011. In January 2009, Congress passed and former President Barack OBAMA signed a bill providing an additional $787 billion fiscal stimulus to be used over 10 years - two-thirds on additional spending and one-third on tax cuts - to create jobs and to help the economy recover. In 2010 and 2011, the federal budget deficit reached nearly 9% of GDP. In 2012, the Federal Government reduced the growth of spending and the deficit shrank to 7.6% of GDP. US revenues from taxes and other sources are lower, as a percentage of GDP, than those of most other countries.
Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan required major shifts in national resources from civilian to military purposes and contributed to the growth of the budget deficit and public debt. Through FY 2018, the direct costs of the wars will have totaled more than $1.9 trillion, according to US Government figures.
In March 2010, former President OBAMA signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), a health insurance reform that was designed to extend coverage to an additional 32 million Americans by 2016, through private health insurance for the general population and Medicaid for the impoverished. Total spending on healthcare - public plus private - rose from 9.0% of GDP in 1980 to 17.9% in 2010.
In July 2010, the former president signed the DODD-FRANK Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a law designed to promote financial stability by protecting consumers from financial abuses, ending taxpayer bailouts of financial firms, dealing with troubled banks that are \"too big to fail,\" and improving accountability and transparency in the financial system - in particular, by requiring certain financial derivatives to be traded in markets that are subject to government regulation and oversight.
The Federal Reserve Board (Fed) announced plans in December 2012 to purchase $85 billion per month of mortgage-backed and Treasury securities in an effort to hold down long-term interest rates, and to keep short-term rates near zero until unemployment dropped below 6.5% or inflation rose above 2.5%. The Fed ended its purchases during the summer of 2014, after the unemployment rate dropped to 6.2%, inflation stood at 1.7%, and public debt fell below 74% of GDP. In December 2015, the Fed raised its target for the benchmark federal funds rate by 0.25%, the first increase since the recession began. With continued low growth, the Fed opted to raise rates several times since then, and in December 2017, the target rate stood at 1.5%.
In December 2017, Congress passed and former President Donald TRUMP signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which, among its various provisions, reduces the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%; lowers the individual tax rate for those with the highest incomes from 39.6% to 37%, and by lesser percentages for those at lower income levels; changes many deductions and credits used to calculate taxable income; and eliminates in 2019 the penalty imposed on taxpayers who do not obtain the minimum amount of health insurance required under the ACA. The new taxes took effect on 1 January 2018; the tax cut for corporations are permanent, but those for individuals are scheduled to expire after 2025. The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) under the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the new law will reduce tax revenues and increase the federal deficit by about $1.45 trillion over the 2018-2027 period. This amount would decline if economic growth were to exceed the JCT’s estimate.
" }, "Real GDP (purchasing power parity)": { "Real GDP (purchasing power parity) 2020": { "text": "$19,846,720,000,000 note: data are in 2017 dollars (2020 est.)" }, "Real GDP (purchasing power parity) 2019": { "text": "$20,563,590,000,000 note: data are in 2017 dollars (2019 est.)" }, "Real GDP (purchasing power parity) 2018": { "text": "$20,128,580,000,000 note: data are in 2017 dollars (2018 est.)" }, "note": "note: data are in 2010 dollars" }, "Real GDP growth rate": { "Real GDP growth rate 2019": { "text": "2.16% (2019 est.)" }, "Real GDP growth rate 2018": { "text": "3% (2018 est.)" }, "Real GDP growth rate 2017": { "text": "2.33% (2017 est.)" } }, "Real GDP per capita": { "Real GDP per capita 2020": { "text": "$60,200 note: data are in 2017 dollars (2020 est.)" }, "Real GDP per capita 2019": { "text": "$62,600 note: data are in 2017 dollars (2019 est.)" }, "Real GDP per capita 2018": { "text": "$61,600 note: data are in 2017 dollars (2018 est.)" }, "note": "note: data are in 2010 dollars" }, "GDP (official exchange rate)": { "text": "$21,433,228,000,000 (2019 est.)" }, "Inflation rate (consumer prices)": { "Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2019": { "text": "1.8% (2019 est.)" }, "Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2018": { "text": "2.4% (2018 est.)" }, "Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2017": { "text": "2.1% (2017 est.)" } }, "Credit ratings": { "Fitch rating": { "text": "AAA (1994)" }, "Moody's rating": { "text": "Aaa (1949)" }, "Standard & Poors rating": { "text": "AA+ (2011)" } }, "GDP - composition, by sector of origin": { "agriculture": { "text": "0.9% (2017 est.)" }, "industry": { "text": "19.1% (2017 est.)" }, "services": { "text": "80% (2017 est.)" } }, "GDP - composition, by end use": { "household consumption": { "text": "68.4% (2017 est.)" }, "government consumption": { "text": "17.3% (2017 est.)" }, "investment in fixed capital": { "text": "17.2% (2017 est.)" }, "investment in inventories": { "text": "0.1% (2017 est.)" }, "exports of goods and services": { "text": "12.1% (2017 est.)" }, "imports of goods and services": { "text": "-15% (2017 est.)" } }, "Agricultural products": { "text": "maize, milk, soybeans, wheat, sugar cane, sugar beet, poultry, potatoes, cotton, pork" }, "Industries": { "text": "highly diversified, world leading, high-technology innovator, second-largest industrial output in the world; petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining" }, "Industrial production growth rate": { "text": "2.3% (2017 est.)" }, "Labor force": { "text": "146.128 million (2020 est.)", "note": "note: includes unemployed" }, "Labor force - by occupation": { "agriculture": { "text": "0.7% (2009)" }, "industry": { "text": "20.3% (2009)" }, "services": { "text": "37.3% (2009)" }, "industry and services": { "text": "24.2% (2009)" }, "manufacturing": { "text": "17.6% (2009)" }, "farming, forestry, and fishing": { "text": "0.7% (2009)" }, "manufacturing, extraction, transportation, and crafts": { "text": "20.3% (2009)" }, "managerial, professional, and technical": { "text": "37.3% (2009)" }, "sales and office": { "text": "24.2% (2009)" }, "other services": { "text": "17.6% (2009)" }, "note": "note: figures exclude the unemployed" }, "Unemployment rate": { "Unemployment rate 2018": { "text": "3.89% (2018 est.)" }, "Unemployment rate 2017": { "text": "4.4% (2017 est.)" } }, "Unemployment, youth ages 15-24": { "total": { "text": "14.9%" }, "male": { "text": "15%" }, "female": { "text": "14.8% (2020 est.)" } }, "Population below poverty line": { "text": "15.1% (2010 est.)" }, "Gini Index coefficient - distribution of family income": { "Gini Index coefficient - distribution of family income 2016": { "text": "41.1 (2016 est.)" }, "Gini Index coefficient - distribution of family income 1997": { "text": "40.8 (1997)" } }, "Household income or consumption by percentage share": { "lowest 10%": { "text": "2%" }, "highest 10%": { "text": "30% (2007 est.)" } }, "Budget": { "revenues": { "text": "3.315 trillion (2017 est.)" }, "expenditures": { "text": "3.981 trillion (2017 est.)" }, "note": "note: revenues exclude social contributions of approximately $1.0 trillion; expenditures exclude social benefits of approximately $2.3 trillion" }, "Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)": { "text": "-3.4% (of GDP) (2017 est.)" }, "Public debt": { "Public debt 2017": { "text": "78.8% of GDP (2017 est.)" }, "Public debt 2016": { "text": "81.2% of GDP (2016 est.)" }, "note": "note: data cover only what the United States Treasury denotes as \"Debt Held by the Public,\" which includes all debt instruments issued by the Treasury that are owned by non-US Government entities; the data include Treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data exclude debt issued by individual US states, as well as intragovernmental debt; intragovernmental debt consists of Treasury borrowings from surpluses in the trusts for Federal Social Security, Federal Employees, Hospital and Supplemental Medical Insurance (Medicare), Disability and Unemployment, and several other smaller trusts; if data for intragovernment debt were added, \"gross debt\" would increase by about one-third of GDP" }, "Taxes and other revenues": { "text": "17% (of GDP) (2017 est.)", "note": "note: excludes contributions for social security and other programs; if social contributions were added, taxes and other revenues would amount to approximately 22% of GDP" }, "Fiscal year": { "text": "1 October - 30 September" }, "Current account balance": { "Current account balance 2019": { "text": "-$480.225 billion (2019 est.)" }, "Current account balance 2018": { "text": "-$449.694 billion (2018 est.)" } }, "Exports": { "Exports 2020": { "text": "$2,127,250,000,000 note: data are in current year dollars (2020 est.)" }, "Exports 2019": { "text": "$2,528,270,000,000 note: data are in current year dollars (2019 est.)" }, "Exports 2018": { "text": "$2,539,380,000,000 note: data are in current year dollars (2018 est.)" } }, "Exports - partners": { "text": "Canada 17%, Mexico 16%, China 7%, Japan 5% (2019)" }, "Exports - commodities": { "text": "refined petroleum, crude petroleum, cars and vehicle parts, integrated circuits, aircraft (2019)" }, "Imports": { "Imports 2020": { "text": "$2,808,960,000,000 note: data are in current year dollars (2020 est.)" }, "Imports 2019": { "text": "$3,105,130,000,000 note: data are in current year dollars (2019 est.)" }, "Imports 2018": { "text": "$3,119,320,000,000 note: data are in current year dollars (2018 est.)" } }, "Imports - partners": { "text": "China 18%, Mexico 15%, Canada 13%, Japan 6%, Germany 5% (2019)" }, "Imports - commodities": { "text": "cars, crude petroleum, computers, broadcasting equipment, packaged medicines (2019)" }, "Reserves of foreign exchange and gold": { "Reserves of foreign exchange and gold 31 December 2017": { "text": "$123.3 billion (31 December 2017 est.)" }, "Reserves of foreign exchange and gold 31 December 2015": { "text": "$117.6 billion (31 December 2015 est.)" } }, "Debt - external": { "Debt - external 2019": { "text": "$20,275,951,000,000 (2019 est.)" }, "Debt - external 2018": { "text": "$19,452,478,000,000 (2018 est.)" }, "note": "note: approximately 4/5ths of US external debt is denominated in US dollars; foreign lenders have been willing to hold US dollar denominated debt instruments because they view the dollar as the world's reserve currency" }, "Exchange rates": { "text": "British pounds per US dollar: 0.7836 (2017 est.), 0.738 (2016 est.), 0.738 (2015 est.), 0.607 (2014 est), 0.6391 (2013 est.)Congress officially created the US military in September 1789; the US Army was established in June 1775 as the Continental Army; after the declaration of independence in July 1776, the Continental Army and the militia in the service of Congress became known collectively as the Army of the United States; when Congress ordered the Continental Army to disband in 1784, it retained a small number of personnel that would form the nucleus of the 1st American Regiment for national service formed later that year; both the US Navy and the US Marines were also established in 1775, but the Navy fell into disuse after the Revolutionary War, and was reestablished by Congress in 1794; the US Air Force was established in 1947, but the first military unit of the US Army devoted exclusively to aviation began operations in 1913
" } }, "Terrorism": { "Terrorist group(s)": { "text": "Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps/Qods Force; Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS); al-Qa'ida", "note": "note: details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in Appendix-T" } }, "Transnational Issues": { "Disputes - international": { "text": "the US has intensified domestic security measures and is collaborating closely with its neighbors, Canada and Mexico, to monitor and control legal and illegal personnel, transport, and commodities across the international borders; abundant rainfall in recent years along much of the Mexico-US border region has ameliorated periodically strained water-sharing arrangements; 1990 Maritime Boundary Agreement in the Bering Sea still awaits Russian Duma ratification; Canada and the United States dispute how to divide the Beaufort Sea and the status of the Northwest Passage but continue to work cooperatively to survey the Arctic continental shelf; The Bahamas and US 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 US-administered 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 states; Marshall Islands claims Wake Island; Tokelau included American Samoa's Swains Island among the islands listed in its 2006 draft constitution
" }, "Refugees and internally displaced persons": { "refugees (country of origin)": { "text": "the US admitted 11,411 refugees during FY2021 including: 4,891 (Democratic Republic of the Congo), 1,246 (Syria), 872 (Afghanistan), 803 (Ukraine), 772 (Burma), 513 (Sudan)" }, "stateless persons": { "text": "47 (mid-year 2021)" }, "note": "note: 72,722 Venezuelans have claimed asylum since 2014 because of the economic and political crisis (2018)" }, "Illicit drugs": { "text": "world's largest consumer of cocaine (mostly from Colombia through Mexico and the Caribbean), Mexican heroin and marijuana; major consumer of ecstasy and Mexican methamphetamine; major consumer of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids sourced from Mexico and China, often mixed with other drugs; illicit producer of cannabis, marijuana, depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, and methamphetamine; money-laundering center
" } } }