What you should know about USA.
The U.S is comprised of fifty states and the capital district Washington. At 9.83mio km² and with 300mio people, the US is the third largest country by land area and population. It is also the product of large-scale immigration of many countries The US economy is the largest national economy in the world, with a nominal 2006 GDP of US$ 13 trillion or 25% of the world total
While the US has the largest national GDP in the world it was in 2007 about 4% less than the combined GDP of the European Union at PPP. The country ranks fourth in GDP per capita at Purchasing Power Parity. Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, and Germany are its top trading partners. The private sector constitutes the bulk of the economy, with government activity accounting for 12.4% of GDP.
The services sector contributes 67.8% of GDP The leading business in revenues is trading, while in income it is finance and insurance. The U.S. is the third largest producer of oil in the world, as well as its largest importer. It is the world's number one producer of electrical and nuclear energy, as well as liquid natural gas, sulfur, phosphates, and salt. While agriculture accounts for under 1% of GDP, the U.S. is the world's top producer of corn and soybeans. The leading cash crop is marijuana despite federal laws making its cultivation and sale illegal.
In 2005 155mio were employed of whom 79% were employed in the service sector. Only 80% had fulltime jobs. World Bank ranks the U.S. first in the ease of hiring and firing workers. Between 1973 and 2003 the yearly working time diminished in most countries, but increased in US. As a result, the U.S. maintains the highest labor productivity in the world. However, it no longer leads in productivity per hour as it did from the 1950s through the early 1990s. Workers in Norway, France and Benelux are now more productive per hour. All three interestingly countries with relatively strong welfare care for their citizens. The U.S. ranks third in the Index of Ease of Doing Business
In 2007 the pretax median household income in the US was $50,233, but varied strongly by state with $68,080 in Maryland and just $36.338in Mississippi. Using PPP exchange rates, the overall median income is similar to most other developed nations. With ca 13% there are many Americans living below the poverty line every year. In 2007, 37.3 million Americans lived in poverty. The U.S. welfare state is among the most austere in the developed world A 2007 UNICEF study of children's well-being in twenty-one industrialized nations ranked the U.S. next to last. Income gains since 1980 have been slower than in previous decades, less widely shared, and accompanied by increased economic insecurity. The share of income of the top 1% has doubled since 1979, leaving the U.S. with the greatest income inequality among developed nations. Wealth, like income, is highly concentrated: The richest 10% of the adult population possesses 69.8% of the country's household wealth, the second-highest share among developed nations. The top 1% possesses 33.4% of net wealth.
The United States has been a leader in scientific research and technological innovation since the late 19th century. Telephone, movie cameras, assembly lines, aircraft, computer and internet were all mainly developed in the US. The country is also the primary developer and grower of genetically modified food, and more than half of the world's land planted with biotech crops is in the U.S.
The United States energy market is 29,000 terawatt hours per year. Energy consumption per capita is 7.8tons of oil equivalent compared to Germany 4.2tons. 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.
The United States population in 2007 totaled 305,5mio including estimated 11.2mio illegal immigrants. In 2007 1.05 million immigrants were granted legal residence. Mexico has been the leading source of new residents for over two decades; since 1998 China, India, and the Philippines have been in the top four sending countries every year.
American public education is operated by state and local governments. The U.S. has many competitive private and public institutions of higher education. Of Americans twenty-five and older 84.6% graduated from high school, 52.6% attended some college, 27.2% earned a bachelor degree and 9.6% earned graduate degrees.
While the mainstream culture holds that the U.S. is a classless society scholars identify significant differences between the country's social classes, affecting socialization, language, and values. Though the American Dream or the perception that Americans enjoy high social mobility plays a key role in attracting immigrants, some analysts find that the U.S. has less social mobility than Western Europe and Canada
