Here are some basic facts about the USA:
- The Capital City is Washington D.C.
- The leader of the USA is the President who is elected every four years
- The USA has 50 states plus various territories. Recently Puerto Rico voted to become a state too.
- The population is around 315 million, making it the 3rd biggest
country by population.
- The area is 3.79 million square miles, which means it is either the
3rd or 4th biggest country depending on who you measure this.
- The income per capita is $49,601 making it the 15th richest country
per person in the world. Most of the 14 countries with richer citizens are
tiny in comparison.
- The currency of the United States is the dollar, represented by the
symbol $.
- Most people think that .com is the US top level domain, but this is
actually a global one – the US one is .us, although it also controls
.mil, .gov and .edu - The US has no official federal language, although more than half of
its states have English as their official language and most Americans
speak English. Spanish is another major language, particularly in the
South West.
- Citizens of the USA are called Americans.
- The USA is located in the continent of North America.
- The dialing code to call the USA internationally is 1.
- The USA declared independence on July 4th, 1776 from Britain. This was
recognized on September 3rd, 1783.
- 52% of Americans are Protestant Christians of various denominations,
24% are Catholics. Many more religions have significant followings and an
increasing number of Americans don’t have a religion.
- The US has the largest military in the world by money spent on it,
dwarfing the spending of the next countries combined.
- The US economy is diverse, from car manufacturing to internet
technology, agriculture, and almost everything in between.
- Many Americans will give a second nationality when asked despite only
ever living in America as the country is made up mostly of those who
immigrated within the last 200 years. Perhaps the best known group is the
Irish Americans who celebrate St Patrick’s Day every year in style.
- The USA is bordered to the North by Canada and to the South by Mexico.
It has a free trade agreement with these countries called NAFTA.
- The national motto of the USA is In God We Trust.
- The national bird is the Bald Eagle.
- The national flower is the Rose.
- The national anthem is entitled The Star-Spangled Banner.
