United States

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United States of America
Flag Great Seal
Anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner"
Projection of North America with the United States in green
The contiguous United States plus Alaska and Hawaii in green
The United States and its territories
The United States and its territories
Capital Washington, D.C.
Largest city New York City
Official languages None at federal level
Recognised regional languages
National language English[b]
Demonym American
Government Federal presidential constitutional republic
 -  President Barack Obama
 -  Vice President Joe Biden
 -  Speaker of the House John Boehner
 -  Chief Justice John Roberts
Legislature Congress
 -  Upper house Senate
 -  Lower house House of Representatives
Independence from Great Britain
 -  Declared July 4, 1776 
 -  Recognized September 3, 1783 
 -  Constitution June 21, 1788 
 -  Current Statehood August 21, 1959 
 -  Total 9,857,306[4] km2 (3rd)
3,805,927[4] sq mi
 -  Water (%) 2.23
 -  2014 estimate 320,061,700[5] (3rd)
 -  Density 34.2/km2 (180th)
88.6/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2013 estimate
 -  Total $16.768 trillion[6] (1st)
 -  Per capita $53,001[6] (10th)
GDP (nominal) 2013 estimate
 -  Total $16.768 trillion[6] (1st)
 -  Per capita $53,001[6] (9th)
Gini (2012) 36.9[7]
medium · 39th (2009)
HDI (2013) Steady 0.914[8]
very high · 5th
Currency United States dollar ($) (USD)
Time zone (UTC−5 to −10)
Drives on the right[e]
Calling code +1
ISO 3166 code US
Internet TLD .us   .gov   .mil   .edu
e. ^ Except U.S. Virgin Islands.


Paleo-Indians migrated from Eurasia to what is now the U.S. mainland around 15,000 years ago,[21] with European colonization beginning in the 16th century. The United States emerged from 13 British colonies located along the Atlantic seaboard. Disputes between Great Britain and the colonies led to the American Revolution. On July 4, 1776, as the colonies were fighting Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, delegates from the 13 colonies unanimously issued the Declaration of Independence. The war ended in 1783 with the recognition of independence of the United States from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and was the first successful war of independence against a European colonial empire.[22][23] The current Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787. The first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil rights and freedoms.

Driven by the doctrine of manifest destiny, the United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century.[24] This involved displacing native tribes, acquiring new territories, and gradually admitting new states.[24] During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War ended legal slavery in the country.[25] By the end of that century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean,[26] and its economy began to soar.[27] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a global military power. The United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, and as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union left the United States as the sole superpower.[28]




The first publicly published evidence of the phrase "United States of America" was in an anonymously written essay in The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 6, 1776.[35][36] In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson included the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence.[37][38] In the final Fourth of July version of the Declaration, the pertinent section of the title was changed to read, "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America".[39] In 1777 the Articles of Confederation announced, "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be 'The United States of America'".[40]





Native Americans meeting with Europeans, 1764

Native American and European contact

The first North American settlers migrated from Siberia by way of the Bering land bridge approximately 15,000 or more years ago.[21][46][47] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture, developed advanced agriculture, grand architecture, and state-level societies. After European explorers and traders made the first contacts, the native population declined due to various reasons, including diseases such as smallpox and measles,[48][49] intermarriage,[50] and violence.[51][52][53]

In the early days of colonization many settlers were subject to shortages of food, disease and attacks from Native Americans. Native Americans were also often at war with neighboring tribes and allied with Europeans in their colonial wars.[54] At the same time, however, many natives and settlers came to depend on each other. Settlers traded for food and animal pelts, natives for guns, ammunition and other European wares.[55] Natives taught many settlers where, when and how to cultivate corn, beans and squash in the frontier. European missionaries and others felt it was important to "civilize" the Indians and urged them to concentrate on farming and ranching without depending on hunting and gathering.[56][57]


Signing of the Mayflower Compact, 1620

After Columbus' first voyage to the New World in 1492 other explorers and settlement followed into the Floridas and the American Southwest.[58][59] There were also some French attempts to colonize the east coast, and later more successful settlements along the Mississippi River. Successful English settlement on the eastern coast of North America began with the Virginia Colony in 1607 at Jamestown and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. Early experiments in communal living failed until the introduction of private farm holdings.[60] Many settlers were dissenting Christian groups who came seeking religious freedom. The continent's first elected legislative assembly, Virginia's House of Burgesses created in 1619, and the Mayflower Compact, signed by the Pilgrims before disembarking, established precedents for the pattern of representative self-government and constitutionalism that would develop throughout the American colonies.[61][62]

Most settlers in every colony were small farmers, but other industries developed within a few decades as varied as the settlements. Cash crops included tobacco, rice and wheat. Extraction industries grew up in furs, fishing and lumber. Manufacturers produced rum and ships, and by the late colonial period Americans were producing one-seventh of the world's iron supply.[63] Cities eventually dotted the coast to support local economies and serve as trade hubs. English colonists were supplemented by waves of Scotch-Irish and other groups. As coastal land grew more expensive freed indentured servants pushed further west.[64] Slave cultivation of cash crops began with the Spanish in the 1500s, and was adopted by the English, but life expectancy was much higher in North America because of less disease and better food and treatment, so the numbers of slaves grew rapidly.[65][66][67] Colonial society was largely divided over the religious and moral implications of slavery and colonies passed acts for and against the practice.[68][69] But by the turn of the 18th century, African slaves were replacing indentured servants for cash crop labor, especially in southern regions.[70]

With the colonization of Georgia in 1732, the 13 colonies that would become the United States of America were established.[71] All had local governments with elections open to most free men, with a growing devotion to the ancient rights of Englishmen and a sense of self-government stimulating support for republicanism.[72] With extremely high birth rates, low death rates, and steady settlement, the colonial population grew rapidly. Relatively small Native American populations were eclipsed.[73] The Christian revivalist movement of the 1730s and 1740s known as the Great Awakening fueled interest in both religion and religious liberty.[74]


Independence and expansion




Although the federal government criminalized the international slave trade in 1808, after 1820 cultivation of the highly profitable cotton crop exploded in the Deep South, and along with it the slave population.[80][81][82] The Second Great Awakening, beginning about 1800, converted millions to evangelical Protestantism. In the North it energized multiple social reform movements, including abolitionism;[83] in the South, Methodists and Baptists proselytized among slave populations.[84]

Americans' eagerness to expand westward prompted a long series of American Indian Wars.[85] The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed territory in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size.[86] The War of 1812, declared against Britain over various grievances and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism.[87] A series of U.S. military incursions into Florida led Spain to cede it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819.[88] Expansion was aided by steam power, when steamboats began traveling along America's large water systems, which were connected by new canals, such as the Erie and the I&M; then, even faster railroads began their stretch across the nation's land.[89]


From 1820 to 1850, Jacksonian democracy began a set of reforms which included wider male suffrage, and it led to the rise of the Second Party System of Democrats and Whigs as the dominant parties from 1828 to 1854. The Trail of Tears in the 1830s exemplified the Indian removal policy that moved Indians into the west to their own reservations. The U.S. annexed the Republic of Texas in 1845 during a period of expansionist Manifest destiny.[90] The 1846 Oregon Treaty with Britain led to U.S. control of the present-day American Northwest.[91] Victory in the Mexican–American War resulted in the 1848 Mexican Cession of California and much of the present-day American Southwest.[92]

The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 spurred western migration and the creation of additional western states.[93] After the American Civil War, new transcontinental railways made relocation easier for settlers, expanded internal trade and increased conflicts with Native Americans.[94] Over a half-century, the loss of the buffalo was an existential blow to many Plains Indians cultures.[95] In 1869, a new Peace Policy sought to protect Native-Americans from abuses, avoid further warfare, and secure their eventual U.S. citizenship.[96]

Civil War and Reconstruction Era

Further information: American Civil War and Reconstruction Era


Following the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, the first president from the largely anti-slavery Republican Party, conventions in thirteen states ultimately declared secession and formed the Confederate States of America, while the U.S. federal government maintained that secession was illegal.[98] The ensuing war was at first for Union, then after 1863 as casualties mounted and Lincoln delivered his Emancipation Proclamation, a second war aim became abolition of slavery. The war remains the deadliest military conflict in American history, resulting in the deaths of approximately 618,000 soldiers as well as many civilians.[99]

Following the Union victory in 1865, three amendments to the U.S. Constitution prohibited slavery, made the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves[100] U.S. citizens, and promised them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a substantial increase in federal power[101] aimed at reintegrating and rebuilding the Southern states while ensuring the rights of the newly freed slaves.[102] But following the Reconstruction Era, throughout the South Jim Crow laws soon effectively disenfranchised most blacks and some poor whites. Over the subsequent decades, in both the north and south blacks and some whites faced systemic discrimination, including racial segregation and occasional vigilante violence, sparking national movements against these abuses.[102]



In the North, urbanization and an unprecedented influx of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe supplied a surplus of labor for the country's industrialization and transformed its culture.[103] National infrastructure including telegraph and transcontinental railroads spurred economic growth and greater settlement and development of the American Old West. The later invention of electric lights and telephones would also impact communication and urban life.[104] The end of the Indian Wars further expanded acreage under mechanical cultivation, increasing surpluses for international markets.[105] Mainland expansion was completed by the Alaska Purchase from Russia in 1867.[106] In 1898 the U.S. entered the world stage with important sugar production and strategic facilities acquired in Hawaii.[107] Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines were ceded by Spain in the same year, following the Spanish–American War.[108]

Rapid economic development at the end of the 19th century produced many prominent industrialists, and the U.S. economy became the world's largest.[109] Dramatic changes were accompanied by social unrest and the rise of populist, socialist, and anarchist movements.[110] This period eventually ended with the beginning of the Progressive Era, which saw significant reforms in many societal areas, including women's suffrage, alcohol prohibition, regulation of consumer goods, greater antitrust measures to ensure competition and attention to worker conditions.

World War I, Great Depression, and World War II

Further information: World War I, Great Depression and World War II
U.S. troops approaching Omaha Beach during World War II


In 1920, the women's rights movement won passage of a constitutional amendment granting women's suffrage.[112] The 1920s and 1930s saw the rise of radio for mass communication and the invention of early television.[113] The prosperity of the Roaring Twenties ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, which included the establishment of the Social Security system.[114] The Great Migration of millions of African Americans out of the American South began around WWI and extended through the 1960s;[115] whereas, the Dust Bowl of the mid-1930s impoverished many farming communities and spurred a new wave of western migration.[116]

The United States was at first effectively neutral during World War II's early stages but began supplying material to the Allies in March 1941 through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, prompting the United States to join the Allies against the Axis powers.[117] Though the nation lost more than 400,000 soldiers,[118] it emerged relatively undamaged from the war with even greater economic and military influence.[119] Allied conferences at Bretton Woods and Yalta outlined a new system of international organizations that placed the United States and Soviet Union at the center of world affairs. As an Allied victory was won in Europe, a 1945 international conference held in San Francisco produced the United Nations Charter, which became active after the war.[120] The United States developed the first nuclear weapons and used them on Japan; the Japanese surrendered on September 2, ending World War II.[121]

Cold War and civil rights era



At home, the U.S. experienced sustained economic expansion and a rapid growth of its population and middle class. Construction of an Interstate Highway System transformed the nation’s infrastructure over the following decades. Millions moved from farms and inner cities to large suburban housing developments.[129][130] A growing civil rights movement used nonviolence to confront segregation and discrimination, with Martin Luther King, Jr. becoming a prominent leader and figurehead. A combination of court decisions and legislation, culminating in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, sought to end racial discrimination.[131][132][133] Meanwhile, a counterculture movement grew which was fueled by opposition to the Vietnam war, black nationalism, and the sexual revolution. The launch of a "War on Poverty" expanded entitlement and welfare spending.[134]

The 1970s and early 1980s saw the onset of stagflation. After his election in 1980, President Ronald Reagan responded to economic stagnation with free-market oriented reforms. Following the collapse of détente, he abandoned "containment" and initiated the more aggressive "rollback" strategy towards the USSR.[135][136][137][138][139] After a surge in female labor participation over the previous decade, by 1985 a majority of women age 16 and over were employed.[140] The late 1980s brought a "thaw" in relations with the USSR, and its collapse in 1991 finally ended the Cold War.[141][142][143][144]

Contemporary history

One World Trade Center, built in its place

After the Cold War, the 1990s saw the longest economic expansion in modern U.S. history, ending in 2001.[145] Originating in U.S. defense networks, the Internet spread to international academic networks, and then to the public in the 1990s, greatly impacting the global economy, society, and culture.[146] On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda terrorists struck the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., killing nearly 3,000 people.[147] In response the United States launched the War on Terror, which includes the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the 2003–11 Iraq War.[148][149] Barack Obama, the first African American,[150] and multiracial[151] president, was elected in 2008 amid the Great Recession.[152]

Geography, climate, and environment

A composite satellite image of the contiguous United States and surrounding areas


The United States is the world's third or fourth largest nation by total area (land and water), ranking behind Russia and Canada and just above or below China. The ranking varies depending on how two territories disputed by China and India are counted and how the total size of the United States is measured: calculations range from 3,676,486 square miles (9,522,055 km2)[154] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[155] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[156] to 3,805,927 square miles (9,857,306 km2).[4] Measured by only land area, the United States is third in size behind Russia and China, just ahead of Canada.[157]

The coastal plain of the Atlantic seaboard gives way further inland to deciduous forests and the rolling hills of the Piedmont.[158] The Appalachian Mountains divide the eastern seaboard from the Great Lakes and the grasslands of the Midwest.[159] The MississippiMissouri River, the world's fourth longest river system, runs mainly north–south through the heart of the country. The flat, fertile prairie of the Great Plains stretches to the west, interrupted by a highland region in the southeast.[159]

The Rocky Mountains, at the western edge of the Great Plains, extend north to south across the country, reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in Colorado.[160] Farther west are the rocky Great Basin and deserts such as the Chihuahua and Mojave.[161] The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet (4,300 m). The lowest and highest points in the continental United States are in the state of California,[162] and only about 84 miles (135 km) apart.[163] At 20,320 feet (6,194 m), Alaska's Mount McKinley is the tallest peak in the country and in North America.[164] Active volcanoes are common throughout Alaska's Alexander and Aleutian Islands, and Hawaii consists of volcanic islands. The supervolcano underlying Yellowstone National Park in the Rockies is the continent's largest volcanic feature.[165]

The United States, with its large size and geographic variety, includes most climate types. To the east of the 100th meridian, the climate ranges from humid continental in the north to humid subtropical in the south.[166] The southern tip of Florida is tropical, as is Hawaii.[167] The Great Plains west of the 100th meridian are semi-arid. Much of the Western mountains have an alpine climate. The climate is arid in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not uncommon—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes occur within the country, mainly in Tornado Alley areas in the Midwest.[168]


The U.S. ecology is "megadiverse": about 17,000 species of vascular plants occur in the contiguous United States and Alaska, and over 1,800 species of flowering plants are found in Hawaii, few of which occur on the mainland.[169] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[170] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[171] The bald eagle is both the national bird and national animal of the United States, and is an enduring symbol of the country itself.[172]

There are 58 national parks and hundreds of other federally managed parks, forests, and wilderness areas.[173] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[174] Most of this is protected, though some is leased for oil and gas drilling, mining, logging, or cattle ranching; 2.4% is used for military purposes.[174][175][176]

Environmental issues have been on the national agenda since 1970. Environmental controversies include debates on oil and nuclear energy, dealing with air and water pollution, the economic costs of protecting wildlife, logging and deforestation,[177][178] and international responses to global warming.[179][180] Many federal and state agencies are involved. The most prominent is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), created by presidential order in 1970.[181] The idea of wilderness has shaped the management of public lands since 1964, with the Wilderness Act.[182] The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is intended to protect threatened and endangered species and their habitats, which are monitored by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.



Largest ancestry groups by county, 2000
Race/Ethnicity (2013)
By race:[183]
White 77.7%
African American 13.2%
Asian 5.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.2%
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander 0.2%
Multiracial (2 or more) 2.4%
By ethnicity:[183]
Hispanic/Latino (of any race) 17.1%
Non-Hispanic/Latino (of any race) 82.9%

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the country's population now to be 319,333,000,[5] The U.S. population almost quadrupled during the 20th century, from about 76 million in 1900.[185] The third most populous nation in the world, after China and India, the United States is the only major industrialized nation in which large population increases are projected.[186]

The United States has a very diverse population; 37 ancestry groups have more than one million members.[187] German Americans are the largest ethnic group (more than 50 million) - followed by Irish Americans (circa 37 million), Mexican Americans (circa 31 million) and English Americans (circa 28 million).[188]

White Americans are the largest racial group; Black Americans are the nation's largest racial minority and third largest ancestry group.[187] Asian Americans are the country's second largest racial minority; the three largest Asian American ethnic groups are Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, and Indian Americans.[187]

The United States has a birth rate of 13 per 1,000, which is 35% below the world average. Nevertheless, its population growth rate is positive at 0.9%, significantly higher than that of many developed nations.[189] In fiscal year 2012, over one million immigrants (most of whom entered through family reunification) were granted legal residence.[190] Mexico has been the leading source of new residents since the 1965 Immigration Act. China, India, and the Philippines have been in the top four sending countries every year.[191][192] As of 2012, approximately 11.4 million residents are illegal immigrants.[193]

According to a survey conducted by the Williams Institute, nine million Americans, or roughly 3.5% of the adult population identify themselves as homosexual, bisexual, or transgender.[194] A 2012 Gallup poll also concluded that 3.5% of adult Americans identified as LGBT. The highest percentage came from the District of Columbia (10%), while the lowest state was North Dakota at 1.7%.[195] In a 2013 survey, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 96.6% of Americans identify as straight, while 1.6% identify as gay or lesbian, and 0.7% identify as being bisexual.[196]

In 2010, the U.S. population included an estimated 5.2 million people with some American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry (2.9 million exclusively of such ancestry) and 1.2 million with some native Hawaiian or Pacific island ancestry (0.5 million exclusively).[197] The census counted more than 19 million people of "Some Other Race" who were "unable to identify with any" of its five official race categories in 2010.[197]

The population growth of Hispanic and Latino Americans (the terms are officially interchangeable) is a major demographic trend. The 50.5 million Americans of Hispanic descent[197] are identified as sharing a distinct "ethnicity" by the Census Bureau; 64% of Hispanic Americans are of Mexican descent.[198] Between 2000 and 2010, the country's Hispanic population increased 43% while the non-Hispanic population rose just 4.9%.[199] Much of this growth is from immigration; in 2007, 12.6% of the U.S. population was foreign-born, with 54% of that figure born in Latin America.[200]

Fertility is also a factor; in 2010 the average Hispanic (of any race) woman gave birth to 2.35 children in her lifetime, compared to 1.97 for non-Hispanic black women and 1.79 for non-Hispanic white women (both below the replacement rate of 2.1).[201] Minorities (as defined by the Census Bureau as all those beside non-Hispanic, non-multiracial whites) constituted 36.3% of the population in 2010,[202] and over 50% of children under age one,[203] and are projected to constitute the majority by 2042.[204] This contradicts the report by the National Vital Statistics Reports, based on the U.S. census data, which concludes that 54% (2,162,406 out of 3,999,386 in 2010) of births were non-Hispanic white.[201]

About 82% of Americans live in urban areas (including suburbs);[156] about half of those reside in cities with populations over 50,000.[205] In 2008, 273 incorporated places had populations over 100,000, nine cities had more than one million residents, and four global cities had over two million (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston).[206] There are 52 metropolitan areas with populations greater than one million.[207] Of the 50 fastest-growing metro areas, 47 are in the West or South.[208] The metro areas of Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and Phoenix all grew by more than a million people between 2000 and 2008.[207]

Leading population centers (see complete list)
Rank Core city (cities) Metro area population Metropolitan Statistical Area Region[209]
New York City
New York City

Los Angeles
Los Angeles

4 Dallas-Fort Worth 6,810,913 Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, TX MSA South
5 Houston 6,313,158 Houston–The Woodlands-Sugar Land MSA South
12 Phoenix 4,398,762 Phoenix–Mesa–Glendale, AZ MSA West
14 Detroit 4,294,983 Detroit–Warren–Livonia, MI MSA Midwest
15 Seattle 3,610,105 Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue, WA MSA West
20 Baltimore 2,770,738 Baltimore–Towson, MD MSA Mid-Atlantic
based upon 2013 population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau[210]


as of 2010
Language Percent of
Number of
English (only) 80% 233,780,338
Combined total of all languages
other than English
20% 57,048,617
(excluding Puerto Rico and Spanish Creole)
12% 35,437,985
(including Cantonese and Mandarin)
0.9% 2,567,779
Tagalog 0.5% 1,542,118
Vietnamese 0.4% 1,292,448
French 0.4% 1,288,833
Korean 0.4% 1,108,408
German 0.4% 1,107,869


Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii, by state law.[214] While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[215] Other states, such as California, mandate the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[216] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions.

Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan[217] and Chamorro[218] are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands;[219] Cherokee is officially recognized by the Cherokee Nation within the Cherokee tribal jurisdiction area in eastern Oklahoma;[220] Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico and is more widely spoken than English there.[221]


Religious affiliation in the U.S. (2007)[222]
Affiliation % of U.S. population
Christian 78.5 78.5
Evangelical Protestant 26.3 26.3
Catholic 23.9 23.9
Mainline Protestant 18.1 18.1
Black Protestant 6.9 6.9
Mormon 1.7 1.7
Other Christian 1.6 1.6
Judaism 1.7 1.7
Buddhism 0.7 0.7
Islam 0.6 0.6
Hinduism 0.4 0.4
Other faith 1.2 1.2
Unaffiliated 16.1 16.1
Don't know/refused answer 0.8 0.8
Total 100 100

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion and forbids Congress from passing laws respecting its establishment. Christianity is by far the most common religion practiced in the U.S., but other religions are followed, too. In a 2013 survey, 56% of Americans said that religion played a "very important role in their lives", a far higher figure than that of any other wealthy nation.[223] In a 2009 Gallup poll 42% of Americans said that they attended church weekly or almost weekly; the figures ranged from a low of 23% in Vermont to a high of 63% in Mississippi.[224] As with other Western countries, the U.S. is becoming less religious. Irreligion is growing rapidly among Americans under 30.[225] Polls show that overall American confidence in organized religion is declining,[226] and that younger Americans in particular are becoming increasingly irreligious.[227]

According to a 2014 survey, 78.5% of adults identified themselves as Christian,[228] Protestant denominations accounted for 51.3%, while Roman Catholicism, at 23.9%, was the largest individual denomination.[229] The total reporting non-Christian religions in 2012 was 4.9%, up from 4% in 2007.[229] Other religions include Judaism (1.7%), Buddhism (0.7%), Islam (0.6%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%).[229] The survey also reported that 16.1% of Americans described themselves as agnostic, atheist or simply having no religion, up from 8.2% in 1990.[229][230][231] There are also Baha'i, Sikh, Jain, Shinto, Confucian, Taoist, Druid, Native American, Wiccan, humanist and deist communities.[232]



Family structure

In 2007, 58% of Americans age 18 and over were married, 6% were widowed, 10% were divorced, and 25% had never been married.[233] Women now work mostly outside the home and receive a majority of bachelor's degrees.[234]

The U.S. teenage pregnancy rate, 79.8 per 1,000 women, is the highest among OECD nations.[235] Between 2007 and 2010, the highest teenage birth rate was in Mississippi, and the lowest in New Hampshire.[236] Abortion is legal throughout the U.S., owing to Roe v. Wade, a 1973 landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. While the abortion rate is falling, the abortion ratio of 241 per 1,000 live births and abortion rate of 15 per 1,000 women aged 15–44 remain higher than those of most Western nations.[237] In 2011, the average age at first birth was 25.6 and 40.7% of births were to unmarried women.[238] The total fertility rate (TFR) was estimated for 2013 at 1.86 births per woman.[239] Adoption in the United States is common and relatively easy from a legal point of view (compared to other Western countries).[240] In 2001, with over 127,000 adoptions, the U.S. accounted for nearly half of the total number of adoptions worldwide.[241] The legal status of same-sex couples adopting varies by jurisdiction. Polygamy is illegal throughout the U.S.[242]

Government and politics

The United States Capitol,
where Congress meets:
the Senate, left; the House, right
The White House, home of the U.S. President

The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law".[243] The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the U.S. Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document.[244] For 2013, the U.S. ranked 19th on the Democracy Index[245] and 17th on the Corruption Perceptions Index.[246]


Political system of the United States

The federal government is composed of three branches:


The Senate has 100 members with each state having two senators, elected at-large to six-year terms; one third of Senate seats are up for election every other year. The President serves a four-year term and may be elected to the office no more than twice. The President is not elected by direct vote, but by an indirect electoral college system in which the determining votes are apportioned to the states and the District of Columbia.[253] The Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice of the United States, has nine members, who serve for life.[254]

The state governments are structured in roughly similar fashion; Nebraska uniquely has a unicameral legislature.[255] The governor (chief executive) of each state is directly elected. Some state judges and cabinet officers are appointed by the governors of the respective states, while others are elected by popular vote.

The original text of the Constitution establishes the structure and responsibilities of the federal government and its relationship with the individual states. Article One protects the right to the "great writ" of habeas corpus. The Constitution has been amended 27 times;[256] the first ten amendments, which make up the Bill of Rights, and the Fourteenth Amendment form the central basis of Americans' individual rights. All laws and governmental procedures are subject to judicial review and any law ruled by the courts to be in violation of the Constitution is voided. The principle of judicial review, not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, was established by the Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison (1803)[257] in a decision handed down by Chief Justice John Marshall.[258]

Political divisions


The states compose the vast bulk of the U.S. land mass. The District of Columbia is a federal district which contains the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C. The United States also possesses five major overseas territories: Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands in the Caribbean; and American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific.[261] Those born in the major territories are birthright U.S. citizens except Samoans. Samoans born in American Samoa are born U.S. nationals, and may become naturalized citizens.[262] American citizens residing in the territories have fundamental constitutional protections and elective self-government, with a territorial Member of Congress, but they do not vote for president as states. Territories have personal and business tax regimes different from that of states.[263]


About this image

Parties and elections

(From left to right) House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker John Boehner, President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at the White House in 2011




In the 113th United States Congress, the House of Representatives is controlled by the Republican Party, while the Democratic Party has control of the Senate. The Senate currently consists of 53 Democrats, two independents who caucus with the Democrats, and 45 Republicans; the House consists of 233 Republicans and 199 Democrats, with three vacancies.[267] There are 29 Republican and 21 Democratic state governors.[268]

Since the founding of the United States until the 2000s, the country's governance has been primarily dominated by White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs). However, the situation has changed recently and of the top 17 positions (four national candidates of the two major party in the 2012 presidential election, four leaders in 112th United States Congress, and nine Supreme Court Justices) there is only one WASP.[269][270][271]


Foreign relations

The United States has an established structure of foreign relations. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and New York City is home to the United Nations Headquarters. It is a member of the G7,[272] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and the Republic of China (Taiwan) do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States (although the U.S. still supplies Taiwan with military equipment).[273]

The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[274] and strong ties with Canada,[275] Australia,[276] New Zealand,[277] the Philippines,[278] Japan,[279] South Korea,[280] Israel,[281] and several European Union countries, including France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. It works closely with fellow NATO members on military and security issues and with its neighbors through the Organization of American States and free trade agreements such as the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. In 2008, the United States spent a net $25.4 billion on official development assistance, the most in the world. As a share of America's large gross national income (GNI), however, the U.S. contribution of 0.18% ranked last among 22 donor states. By contrast, private overseas giving by Americans is relatively generous.[282]


Government finance


U.S. taxation is generally progressive, especially the federal income taxes, and is among the most progressive in the developed world,[286] but the incidence of corporate income tax has been a matter of considerable ongoing controversy for decades.[287][288] In 2009 the top 10% of earners, with 36% of the nation's income, paid 78.2% of the federal personal income tax burden, while the bottom 40% had a negative liability.[289] However, payroll taxes for Social Security are a flat regressive tax, with no tax charged on income above $113,700 and no tax at all paid on unearned income from things such as stocks and capital gains.[290][291] The historic reasoning for the regressive nature of the payroll tax is that entitlement programs have not been viewed as welfare transfers.[292][293] The top 10% paid 51.8% of total federal taxes in 2009, and the top 1%, with 13.4% of pre-tax national income, paid 22.3% of federal taxes.[289] In 2013 the Tax Policy Center projected total federal effective tax rates of 35.5% for the top 1%, 27.2% for the top quintile, 13.8% for the middle quintile, and −2.7% for the bottom quintile.[294][295] State and local taxes vary widely, but are generally less progressive than federal taxes as they rely heavily on broadly borne regressive sales and property taxes that yield less volatile revenue streams, though their consideration does not eliminate the progressive nature of overall taxation.[288][296]


National debt


The total national debt in the United States was $18.527 trillion (106% of the GDP), according to an estimate for 2014 by the International Monetary Fund.[297] In May 2014, U.S. federal government debt held by the public was approximately $12.495 trillion, or about 75% of U.S. GDP. Intra-governmental holdings stood at $5 trillion, giving a combined total debt of $17.494 trillion.[298][299] By 2012, total federal debt had surpassed 100% of U.S. GDP.[300] The U.S. has a credit rating of AA+ from Standard & Poor's, AAA from Fitch, and Aaa from Moody's.[301]





Military service is voluntary, though conscription may occur in wartime through the Selective Service System.[305] American forces can be rapidly deployed by the Air Force's large fleet of transport aircraft, the Navy's 10 active aircraft carriers, and Marine expeditionary units at sea with the Navy's Atlantic and Pacific fleets. The military operates 865 bases and facilities abroad,[306] and maintains deployments greater than 100 active duty personnel in 25 foreign countries.[307] The extent of this global military presence has prompted some scholars to describe the United States as maintaining an "empire of bases".[308]

The military budget of the United States in 2011 was more than $700 billion, 41% of global military spending and equal to the next 14 largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.7% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top 15 military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[309] U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP ranked 23rd globally in 2012 according to the CIA.[310] Defense's share of U.S. spending has generally declined in recent decades, from Cold War peaks of 14.2% of GDP in 1953 and 69.5% of federal outlays in 1954 to 4.7% of GDP and 18.8% of federal outlays in 2011.[311]

The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, was a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion was proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[312] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[313] 4,484 service members were killed during the Iraq War.[314] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan in April 2012;[315] by November 8, 2013 2,285 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[316]

Law enforcement and crime



In 2012 there were 4.7 murders per 100,000 persons in the United States, a 54% decline from the modern peak of 10.2 in 1980.[321][322][323] Among developed nations, the United States has above-average levels of violent crime and particularly high levels of gun violence and homicide.[324] A cross-sectional analysis of the World Health Organization Mortality Database from 2003 showed that United States "homicide rates were 6.9 times higher than rates in the other high-income countries, driven by firearm homicide rates that were 19.5 times higher."[325] Gun ownership rights continue to be the subject of contentious political debate. The FBI's Uniform Crime Reports estimates that there were 3,246 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents in 2012, for a total of over 9 million total crimes.[326]

Capital punishment is sanctioned in the United States for certain federal and military crimes, and used in 32 states.[327] No executions took place from 1967 to 1977, owing in part to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down arbitrary imposition of the death penalty. In 1976, that Court ruled that, under appropriate circumstances, capital punishment may constitutionally be imposed. Since the decision there have been more than 1,300 executions, a majority of these taking place in three states: Texas, Virginia, and Oklahoma.[328] Meanwhile, several states have either abolished or struck down death penalty laws. In 2010, the country had the fifth highest number of executions in the world, following China, Iran, North Korea, and Yemen.[329]

The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate and total prison population in the world.[330][331][332][333] At the start of 2008, more than 2.3 million people were incarcerated, more than one in every 100 adults.[334] The prison population has quadrupled since 1980.[335] African-American males are jailed at about six times the rate of white males and three times the rate of Hispanic males.[336] The country's high rate of incarceration is largely due to changes in sentencing guidelines and drug policies.[337] In 2008, Louisiana had the highest incarceration rate, and Maine the lowest.[338] In 2012, Louisiana had the highest rate of murder and non-negligent manslaughter in the U.S., and New Hampshire the lowest.[339]


Economic Indicators
Nominal GDP $17.555 trillion (Q3 2014) [340]
Real GDP growth 3.9% (Q3 2014, annualized)
2.2% (2013) [341]
CPI inflation 2.1% (May 2014) [342]
Employment-to-population ratio 58.9% (May 2014) [343]
Unemployment 5.8% (October 2014) [344]
Labor force participation rate 62.8% (October 2014) [345]
Total public debt $17.5 trillion (Q2 2014) [346]
Household net worth $81.8 trillion (Q1 2014) [347]

The United States has a capitalist mixed economy which is fueled by abundant natural resources and high productivity.[348] According to the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. GDP of $16.8 trillion constitutes 24% of the gross world product at market exchange rates and over 19% of the gross world product at purchasing power parity (PPP).[6] Its national GDP was about 5% larger at PPP in 2014 than the European Union's, whose population is around 62% higher.[349] However, the US's nominal GDP is estimated to be $17.528 trillion as of 2014, which is about 5% smaller than that of the European Union.[350] From 1983 to 2008, U.S. real compounded annual GDP growth was 3.3%, compared to a 2.3% weighted average for the rest of the G7.[351] The country ranks ninth in the world in nominal GDP per capita and sixth in GDP per capita at PPP.[6] The U.S. dollar is the world's primary reserve currency.[352]

The United States is the largest importer of goods and second largest exporter, though exports per capita are relatively low. In 2010, the total U.S. trade deficit was $635 billion.[353] Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, and Germany are its top trading partners.[354] In 2010, oil was the largest import commodity, while transportation equipment was the country's largest export.[353] China is the largest foreign holder of U.S. public debt.[355] The largest holder of the U.S. debt are American entities, including federal government accounts and the Federal Reserve, who hold the majority of the debt.[356][357][358][359]

In 2009, the private sector was estimated to constitute 86.4% of the economy, with federal government activity accounting for 4.3% and state and local government activity (including federal transfers) the remaining 9.3%.[360] While its economy has reached a postindustrial level of development and its service sector constitutes 67.8% of GDP, the United States remains an industrial power.[361] The leading business field by gross business receipts is wholesale and retail trade; by net income it is manufacturing.[362] In the franchising business model, McDonald's and Subway are the two most recognized brands in the world. Coca-Cola is the most recognized soft drink company in the world.[363]

Chemical products are the leading manufacturing field.[364] The United States is the largest producer of oil in the world, as well as its second largest importer.[365] It is the world's number one producer of electrical and nuclear energy, as well as liquid natural gas, sulfur, phosphates, and salt. The National Mining Association provides data pertaining to coal and minerals that include beryllium, copper, lead, magnesium, zinc, titanium and others.[366][367]

Agriculture accounts for just under 1% of GDP,[361] the United States is the world's top producer of corn[368] and soybeans.[369] The National Agricultural Statistics Service maintains agricultural statistics for products that include peanuts, oats, rye, wheat, rice, cotton, corn, barley, hay, sunflowers, and oilseeds. In addition, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides livestock statistics regarding beef, poultry, pork, and dairy products. The country is the primary developer and grower of genetically modified food, representing half of the world's biotech crops.[370]

Consumer spending comprises 71% of the U.S. economy in 2013.[371] In August 2010, the American labor force consisted of 154.1 million people. With 21.2 million people, government is the leading field of employment. The largest private employment sector is health care and social assistance, with 16.4 million people. About 12% of workers are unionized, compared to 30% in Western Europe.[372] The World Bank ranks the United States first in the ease of hiring and firing workers.[373] The United States is the only advanced economy that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation[374] and is one of just a few countries in the world without paid family leave as a legal right, with the others being Papua New Guinea, Suriname and Liberia.[375] In 2009, the United States had the third highest workforce productivity per person in the world, behind Luxembourg and Norway. It was fourth in productivity per hour, behind those two countries and the Netherlands.[376]

The 2008-2012 global recession had a significant impact on the United States, with output still below potential according to the Congressional Budget Office.[377] It brought high unemployment (which has been decreasing but remains above pre-recession levels), along with low consumer confidence, the continuing decline in home values and increase in foreclosures and personal bankruptcies, an escalating federal debt crisis, inflation, and rising petroleum and food prices. There remains a record proportion of long-term unemployed, continued decreasing household income, and tax and federal budget increases.[378][379][380] A 2011 poll found that more than half of all Americans think the U.S. is still in recession or even depression, despite official data that shows a historically modest recovery.[381] In 2013 the Census Bureau defined poverty rate decreased to roughly 14.5% of the population.[382]

Income, poverty and wealth

Productivity and real median family income growth 1947–2009

Americans have the highest average household and employee income among OECD nations, and in 2007 had the second highest median household income.[383][384] According to the Census Bureau real median household income was $50,502 in 2011, down from $51,144 in 2010.[385] The Global Food Security Index ranked the U.S. number one for food affordability and overall food security in March 2013.[386] Americans on average have over twice as much living space per dwelling and per person as European Union residents, and more than every EU nation.[387] For 2013 the United Nations Development Programme ranked the United States 5th among 187 countries in its Human Development Index and 28th in its inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI).[388]

There has been a widening gap between productivity and median incomes since the 1970s.[389] While inflation-adjusted ("real") household income had been increasing almost every year from 1947 to 1999, it has since been flat and even decreased recently.[390] The rise in the share of total annual income received by the top 1 percent, which has more than doubled from 9 percent in 1976 to 20 percent in 2011, has had a significant impact on income inequality,[391] leaving the United States with one of the widest income distributions among OECD nations.[392][393][394] The post-recession income gains have been very uneven, with the top 1 percent capturing 95 percent of the income gains from 2009 to 2012.[395]

Wealth, like income and taxes, is highly concentrated; the richest 10% of the adult population possess 72% of the country's household wealth, while the bottom half claim only 2%.[396] Between June 2007 and November 2008 the global recession led to falling asset prices around the world. Assets owned by Americans lost about a quarter of their value.[397] Since peaking in the second quarter of 2007, household wealth is down $14 trillion.[398] At the end of 2008, household debt amounted to $13.8 trillion.[399]

There were about 643,000 sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons in the U.S. in January 2009, with almost two-thirds staying in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program. In 2011 16.7 million children lived in food-insecure households, about 35% more than 2007 levels, though only 1.1% of U.S. children, or 845,000, saw reduced food intake or disrupted eating patterns at some point during the year, and most cases were not chronic.[400] According to a 2014 report by the Census Bureau, one in five young adults lives in poverty today, up from one in seven in 1980.[401]



The Interstate Highway System, which extends 46,876 miles (75,440 km)[402]

Personal transportation is dominated by automobiles, which operate on a network of 13 million roads, including one of the world's longest highway systems.[403] The world's second largest automobile market,[404] the United States has the highest rate of per-capita vehicle ownership in the world, with 765 vehicles per 1,000 Americans.[405] About 40% of personal vehicles are vans, SUVs, or light trucks.[406] The average American adult (accounting for all drivers and non-drivers) spends 55 minutes driving every day, traveling 29 miles (47 km).[407]

Mass transit accounts for 9% of total U.S. work trips.[408][409] While transport of goods by rail is extensive, relatively few people use rail to travel,[410] though ridership on Amtrak, the national intercity passenger rail system, grew by almost 37% between 2000 and 2010.[411] Also, light rail development has increased in recent years.[412] Bicycle usage for work commutes is minimal.[413]

The civil airline industry is entirely privately owned and has been largely deregulated since 1978, while most major airports are publicly owned.[414] The three largest airlines in the world by passengers carried are U.S.-based; American Airlines is number one after its 2013 acquisition by US Airways.[415] Of the world's 30 busiest passenger airports, 12 are in the United States, including the busiest, Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport.[416]



The United States energy market is 29,000 terawatt hours per year. Energy consumption per capita is 7.8 tons of oil equivalent per year, the 10th highest rate in the world. In 2005, 40% of this energy came from petroleum, 23% from coal, and 22% from natural gas. The remainder was supplied by nuclear power and renewable energy sources.[417] The United States is the world's largest consumer of petroleum.[418]

For decades, nuclear power has played a limited role relative to many other developed countries, in part because of public perception in the wake of a 1979 accident. In 2007, several applications for new nuclear plants were filed.[419] The United States has 27% of global coal reserves.[420] It is the world's largest producer of natural gas and crude oil.[421]

Science and technology



The rise of Nazism in the 1930s led many European scientists, including Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and John von Neumann, to immigrate to the United States.[424] During World War II, the Manhattan Project developed nuclear weapons, ushering in the Atomic Age, while the Space Race produced rapid advances in rocketry, materials science, and aeronautics.[425][426]

The invention of the transistor in the 1950s, a key active component in practically all modern electronics, lead to many technological developments and a significant expansion of the U.S. technology industry.[427][428][429] This in turn lead to the establishment of many new technology companies and regions around the county such as Silicon Valley in California. Advancements by American microprocessor companies such as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Intel along with both computer software and hardware companies that include Adobe Systems, Apple Computer, IBM, GNU-Linux, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems created and popularized the personal computer. The ARPANET was developed in the 1960s to meet Defense Department requirements, and became the first of a series of networks which evolved into the Internet.

These advancements then lead to greater personalization of technology for individual use.[430] As of April 2010, 77% of American households owned at least one computer, and 68% had broadband Internet service.[431] 85% of Americans also own a mobile phone as of 2011.[432]

In the 21st century, 64% of research and development funding comes from the private sector.[433] The United States leads the world in scientific research papers and impact factor.[434]



American public education is operated by state and local governments, regulated by the United States Department of Education through restrictions on federal grants. In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn 18 (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at 16 or 17.[435] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[436] The U.S. spends more on education per student than any nation in the world, spending more than $11,000 per elementary student in 2010 and more than $12,000 per high school student.[437] Some 80% of U.S. college students attend public universities.[438]

The United States has many competitive private and public institutions of higher education. According to prominent international rankings, 13 or 15 American colleges and universities are ranked among the top 20 in the world.[439][440] There are also local community colleges with generally more open admission policies, shorter academic programs, and lower tuition. Of Americans 25 and older, 84.6% graduated from high school, 52.6% attended some college, 27.2% earned a bachelor's degree, and 9.6% earned graduate degrees.[441] The basic literacy rate is approximately 99%.[156][442] The United Nations assigns the United States an Education Index of 0.97, tying it for 12th in the world.[443]

As for public expenditures on higher education, the U.S. trails some other OECD nations but spends more per student than the OECD average, and more than all nations in combined public and private spending.[437][444] As of 2012, student loan debt exceeded one trillion dollars, more than Americans owe on credit cards.[445]


The United States has a life expectancy of 78.4 years at birth, up from 75.2 years in 1990, ranking it 50th among 221 nations, and 27th out of the 34 industrialized OECD countries, down from 20th in 1990.[446][447] Increasing obesity in the United States and health improvements elsewhere have contributed to lowering the country's rank in life expectancy from 1987, when it was 11th in the world.[448] Obesity rates in the United States are among the highest in the world.[449] Approximately one-third of the adult population is obese and an additional third is overweight;[450] the obesity rate, the highest in the industrialized world, has more than doubled in the last quarter-century.[451] Obesity-related type 2 diabetes is considered epidemic by health care professionals.[452] The infant mortality rate of 6.17 per thousand places the United States 169th highest out of 224 countries.[453] The United States has the highest first-day infant death rate out of all the industrialized countries in the world. About 11,300 newborns die within 24 hours of their birth in the U.S. each year, 50 percent more first-day deaths than all other industrialized countries combined.[454]


The U.S. is a global leader in medical innovation. America solely developed or contributed significantly to 9 of the top 10 most important medical innovations since 1975 as ranked by a 2001 poll of physicians, while the EU and Switzerland together contributed to five. Since 1966, Americans have received more Nobel Prizes in Medicine than the rest of the world. From 1989 to 2002, four times more money was invested in private biotechnology companies in America than in Europe.[456][457] The U.S. health-care system far outspends any other nation, measured in both per capita spending and percentage of GDP.[458] Health-care coverage in the United States is a combination of public and private efforts and is not universal. In 2014, 13.4% of the population did not carry health insurance.[459] The subject of uninsured and underinsured Americans is a major political issue.[460][461] In 2006, Massachusetts became the first state to mandate universal health insurance.[462] Federal legislation passed in early 2010 would ostensibly create a near-universal health insurance system around the country by 2014, though the bill and its ultimate impact are issues of controversy.[463][464]


The United States is home to many cultures and a wide variety of ethnic groups, traditions, and values.[19][465] Aside from the Native American, Native Hawaiian and Native Alaskan populations, nearly all Americans or their ancestors settled or immigrated within the past five centuries.[466] Mainstream American culture is a Western culture largely derived from the traditions of European immigrants with influences from many other sources, such as traditions brought by slaves from Africa.[19][467] More recent immigration from Asia and especially Latin America has added to a cultural mix that has been described as both a homogenizing melting pot, and a heterogeneous salad bowl in which immigrants and their descendants retain distinctive cultural characteristics.[19]


The American Dream, or the perception that Americans enjoy high social mobility, plays a key role in attracting immigrants.[471] Whether this perception is realistic has been a topic of debate.[472][473][474][475][351][476] While mainstream culture holds that the United States is a classless society,[477] scholars identify significant differences between the country's social classes, affecting socialization, language, and values.[478] Americans' self-images, social viewpoints, and cultural expectations are associated with their occupations to an unusually close degree.[479] While Americans tend greatly to value socioeconomic achievement, being ordinary or average is generally seen as a positive attribute.[480]

Mass media

Corporate headquarters of the American Broadcasting Company in New York City

The four major broadcasters in the U.S. are the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and Fox. Americans are the heaviest television viewers in the world,[481] and the average viewing time continues to rise, reaching five hours a day in 2006.[482] The four major broadcast television networks are all commercial entities. Americans listen to radio programming, also largely commercial, on average just over two-and-a-half hours a day.[483]


Aside from web portals and search engines, the most popular websites are Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, Amazon, eBay, and Twitter.[484]


In Spanish, the second most widely spoken mother tongue behind English, more than 800 publications are published.[486][487]



Director D. W. Griffith was central to the development of film grammar and Orson Welles's Citizen Kane (1941) is frequently cited as the greatest film of all time.[488][489] American screen actors like John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe have become iconic figures, while producer/entrepreneur Walt Disney was a leader in both animated film and movie merchandising. Hollywood is also one of the leaders in motion picture production.[490]




Literature, philosophy, and the arts

Mark Twain, American author and humorist








Apple pie is a food synonymous with American culture.


Roasted turkey is a traditional menu item of an American Thanksgiving dinner.[501]

Characteristic dishes such as apple pie, fried chicken, pizza, hamburgers, and hot dogs derive from the recipes of various immigrants. French fries, Mexican dishes such as burritos and tacos, and pasta dishes freely adapted from Italian sources are widely consumed.[502] Americans generally prefer coffee to tea. Marketing by U.S. industries is largely responsible for making orange juice and milk ubiquitous breakfast beverages.[503][504]


The American fast food industry, the world's largest, pioneered the drive-through format in the 1930s. Fast food consumption has sparked health concerns. During the 1980s and 1990s, Americans' caloric intake rose 24%;[502] frequent dining at fast food outlets is associated with what public health officials call the American "obesity epidemic".[507] Highly sweetened soft drinks are widely popular, and sugared beverages account for nine percent of American caloric intake.[508]


Swimmer Michael Phelps and President George W. Bush Aug. 10, 2008 at the National Aquatic Center in Beijing. Phelps is the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time.[509][510]


The market for professional sports in the United States is roughly $69 billion, roughly 50% larger than that of all of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa combined.[513] Baseball has been regarded as the national sport since the late 19th century, while American football is now by several measures the most popular spectator sport.[514] Basketball and ice hockey are the country's next two leading professional team sports. These four major sports, when played professionally, each occupy a season at different, but overlapping, times of the year. College football and basketball attract large audiences.[515] Boxing and horse racing were once the most watched individual sports,[516] but they have been eclipsed by golf and auto racing, particularly NASCAR.[517] In the 21st century, televised mixed martial arts has also gained a strong following of regular viewers.[518][519] While soccer is less popular in the United States than in many other nations, the country hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the men's national soccer team has been to the past six World Cups and the women are first in the women's world rankings.

See also


  1. ^ Beginning between 1945, 1954, 1962 (depending on different sources) and ending in the mid-1970s. Several start dates of the war are given by different sources: 1945,[123] 1954,[124] 1959,[125] and 1962;[126] the end date is also debated. Major U.S. involvement stopped in 1973,[127] yet most recognize the end of the Second Indochina War as when the Republic of Vietnam was toppled in 1975.[128]


  1. ^ 36 U.S.C. § 302 National motto
  2. ^ Simonson, 2010
  3. ^ Dept. of Treasury, 2011
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    BBC, April 2008: Country Profile: United States of America
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  75. ^ Walton, 2009, p. 35
  79. ^ Boyer, 2007, pp. 192–193
  81. ^ Walton, 2009, p. 43
  82. ^ Gordon, 2004, pp. 27,29
  89. ^ Winchester, pp. 198, 216, 251, 253
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  102. ^ a b G. Alan Tarr (2009). Judicial Process and Judicial Policymaking. Cengage Learning. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-495-56736-3. 
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