Data at glance of United States - average on period

History

Thirteen of 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 as the nation expanded across the North American continent and acquired a number of overseas possessions. Two of the 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 rapid advances in technology.

Environment

Area: 9,833,517 sq km km2

Climate: 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

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

Ethnic characteristics

Groups: White 61.6%, Black or African American 12.4%, Asian 6%, Indigenous and Alaska native 1.1%, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0.2%, other 8.4%, two or more races 10.2% (2020 est.)

Languages:

Religions: Protestant 46.5%, Roman Catholic 20.8%, Jewish 1.9%, Church of Jesus Christ 1.6%, other Christian 0.9%, Muslim 0.9%, Jehovah's Witness 0.8%, Buddhist 0.7%, Hindu 0.7%, other 1.8%, unaffiliated 22.8%, don't know/refused 0.6% (2014 est.)

Government

Capital: Washington, D.C.

Government type: constitutional federal republic

Executive branch

Chief of state: President Donald J. TRUMP (since 20 January 2025)

Head of government: President Donald J. TRUMP (since 20 January 2025)

Legislative branch

Description: Congress - bicameral

Industries

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

GDP by sector: Agriculture: 0.9% (2024 est.), Industry: 17.3% (2024 est.), Services: 79.7% (2024 est.)

Trade

Export partners: Canada 14%, Mexico 13%, China 8%, Germany 5%, Japan 4% (2023)

Export commodities: crude petroleum, refined petroleum, natural gas, gas turbines, cars (2023)

Import partners: Mexico 15%, China 15%, Canada 14%, Germany 5%, Japan 5% (2023)

Import commodities: cars, crude petroleum, broadcasting equipment, computers, garments (2023)

Geography

North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico

Defence

Military expenditure: 2025: 3.2% of GDP (2025 est.)