This article is about the United States of America.
| United States of America | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Motto: In God We Trust (official) E Pluribus Unum (traditional) (Latin: Out of Many, One) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Capital | Washington, D.C. 38°53′N 77°01′W / 38.883°N 77.017°W | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Largest city | New York City | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Official language(s) | None at federal level[a] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National language | English (de facto)[b] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Demonym | American | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Government | Federal presidential constitutional republic | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | President | Barack Obama (D) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Vice President | Joe Biden (D) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Speaker of the House | John Boehner (R) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Chief Justice | John Roberts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Legislature | Congress | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Upper House | Senate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Lower House | House of Representatives | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Declared | July 4, 1776 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Recognized | September 3, 1783 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Current constitution | June 21, 1788 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Area | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Total | 9,826,675 km2 [1][c](3rd/4th) 3,794,101 sq mi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Water (%) | 6.76 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Population | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | 2010 census | 308,745,538[2](April) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Density | 33.7/km2 87.4/sq mi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GDP (PPP) | 2009 estimate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Total | $14.256 trillion[3] (1st) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Per capita | $47,701[3] (6th) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2009 estimate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Total | $14.256 trillion[3] (1st) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Per capita | $46,381[3] (9th) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gini (2007) | 45.0[1] (44th) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HDI (2010) |  0.902[4] (very high) (4th) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Currency | United States dollar ($) (USD) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Time zone | (UTC−5 to −10) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Summer (DST) | (UTC−4 to −10) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date formats | m/d/yy (AD) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Drives on the | right | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Internet TLD | .us .gov .mil .edu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Calling code | +1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ^ a. English is the official language of at least 28 states—some sources give a higher figure, based on differing definitions of "official".[5] English and Hawaiian are both official languages in the state of Hawaii. ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language. ^ c. Whether the United States or the People's Republic of China is larger is disputed. The figure given is from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook. Other sources give smaller figures. All authoritative calculations of the country's size include only the 50 states and the District of Columbia, not the territories. ^ d. The population estimate includes people whose usual residence is in the fifty states and the District of Columbia, including noncitizens. It does not include either those living in the territories, amounting to more than 4 million U.S. citizens (most in Puerto Rico), or U.S. citizens living outside the United States. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The United States of America (also referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Caribbean and Pacific.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 308 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest both by land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2009 GDP of $14.3 trillion (24% of nominal global GDP and 20% of global GDP at purchasing power parity).
Indigenous peoples of Asian origin have inhabited what is now the mainland United States for many thousands of years. This Native American population was greatly reduced by disease and warfare after European contact. The United States was founded by thirteen British colonies located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their right to self-determination and their establishment of a cooperative union. The rebellious states defeated the British Empire in the American Revolution, the first successful colonial war of independence. The current United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787; its ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791.
In the 19th century, the United States acquired land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Disputes between the agrarian South and industrial North over states' rights and the expansion of the institution of slavery provoked the American Civil War of the 1860s. The North's victory prevented a permanent split of the country and led to the end of legal slavery in the United States. By the 1870s, the national economy was the world's largest.The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. It emerged from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons and 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. The country accounts for 43% of global military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.
Government and elections
Main articles: Federal government of the United States, state governments of the United States, and elections in the United States
- Legislative: The bicameral Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse, and has the power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government.
- Executive: The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the members of the Cabinet (subject to Senate approval) and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.
- Judicial: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the president with Senate approval, interpret laws and overturn those they find unconstitutional.
The state governments are structured in roughly similar fashion; Nebraska uniquely has a unicameral legislature. 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.
All laws and governmental procedures are subject to judicial review, and any law ruled in violation of the Constitution is voided. 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, and Article Three guarantees the right to a jury trial in all criminal cases. Amendments to the Constitution require the approval of three-fourths of the states. The Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times; the first ten amendments, which make up the Bill of Rights, and the Fourteenth Amendment form the central basis of Americans' individual rights.
Parties, ideology, and politics
Main articles: Politics of the United States and Political ideologies in the United States
Within American political culture, the Republican Party is considered center-right or "conservative" and the Democratic Party is considered center-left or "liberal". The states of the Northeast and West Coast and some of the Great Lakes states, known as "blue states", are relatively liberal. The "red states" of the South and parts of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains are relatively conservative.
The winner of the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama, is the 44th U.S. president. All previous presidents were men of solely European descent. The 2010 midterm elections saw the Republican Party take control of the House and make gains in the Senate, where the Democrats retain the majority. In the 112th United States Congress, the Senate comprises 51 Democrats, two independents who caucus with the Democrats, and 47 Republicans; the House comprises 242 Republicans and 193 Democrats. There are 29 Republican and 20 Democratic state governors, as well as one independent.
Political divisions
Main article: U.S. state
Further information: Territorial evolution of the United States and United States territorial acquisitions
The United States is a federal union of fifty states. The original thirteen states were the successors of the thirteen colonies that rebelled against British rule. Early in the country's history, three new states were organized on territory separated from the claims of the existing states: Kentucky from Virginia; Tennessee from North Carolina; and Maine from Massachusetts. Most of the other states have been carved from territories obtained through war or purchase by the U.S. government. One set of exceptions comprises Vermont, Texas, and Hawaii: each was an independent republic before joining the union. During the American Civil War, West Virginia broke away from Virginia. The most recent state—Hawaii—achieved statehood on August 21, 1959. The states do not have the right to secede from the union.The states compose the vast bulk of the U.S. land mass; the two other areas considered integral parts of the country are the District of Columbia, the federal district where the capital, Washington, is located; and Palmyra Atoll, an uninhabited but incorporated territory in the Pacific Ocean. 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. Those born in the major territories (except for American Samoa) possess U.S. citizenship. American citizens residing in the territories have many of the same rights and responsibilities as citizens residing in the states; however, they are generally exempt from federal income tax, may not vote for president, and have only nonvoting representation in the U.S. Congress.[47]
Foreign relations and military
Main articles: Foreign policy of the United States and United States armed forces
The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[48] and strong ties with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and Israel. 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 gross national income (GNI), however, the U.S. contribution of 0.18% ranked last among twenty-two donor states. In contrast, private overseas giving by Americans is relatively generous.[49]
The president holds the title of commander-in-chief of the nation's armed forces and appoints its leaders, the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The United States Department of Defense administers the armed forces, including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and the Department of the Navy in time of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty. The Reserves and National Guard brought the total number of troops to 2.3 million. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[50]
Military service is voluntary, though conscription may occur in wartime through the Selective Service System. American forces can be rapidly deployed by the Air Force's large fleet of transport aircraft, the Navy's eleven 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,[51] and maintains deployments greater than 100 active duty personnel in 25 foreign countries.[52] The extent of this global military presence has prompted some scholars to describe the United States as maintaining an "empire of bases."[53]
Total U.S. military spending in 2008, more than $600 billion, was over 41% of global military spending and greater than the next fourteen largest national military expenditures combined. The per capita spending of $1,967 was about nine times the world average; at 4% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top fifteen military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[54] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2011, $549 billion, is a 3.4% increase over 2010 and 85% higher than in 2001; an additional $159 billion is proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[55] As of September 2010, the United States is scheduled to have 96,000 troops deployed to Afghanistan, and 50,000 to Iraq.[56] As of January 5, 2011, the United States had suffered 4,432 military fatalities during the Iraq War,[57] and 1,448 during the War in Afghanistan.[58]
Economy
Main article: Economy of the United States
| Economic indicators | ||
|---|---|---|
| Unemployment | 9.8% (November 2010) | [59] |
| GDP growth | 2.5% (3Q 2010) [-2.6% (2009)] | [60] |
| CPI inflation | 1.1% (November 2009 – November 2010) | [61] |
| Poverty | 14.3% (2009) | [62] |
| Public debt | $13.87 trillion (December 30, 2010) | [63] |
| Household net worth | $54.2 trillion (4Q 2009) | [64] |
The United States is the largest importer of goods and third largest exporter, though exports per capita are relatively low. In 2008, the total U.S. trade deficit was $696 billion.[66] Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, and Germany are its top trading partners.[67] In 2007, vehicles constituted both the leading import and leading export commodity.[68] Japan is the largest foreign holder of U.S. public debt, having surpassed China in early 2010.[69] The United States ranks second in the Global Competitiveness Report.[70]
In 2009, the private sector was estimated to constitute 55.3% of the economy, with federal government activity accounting for 24.1% and state and local government activity (including federal transfers) the remaining 20.6%.[71] The economy is postindustrial, with the service sector contributing 67.8% of GDP, though the United States remains an industrial power.[72] The leading business field by gross business receipts is wholesale and retail trade; by net income it is manufacturing.[73] Chemical products are the leading manufacturing field.[74] The United States is the third largest producer of oil in the world, as well as its largest importer.[75] 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 just under 1% of GDP,[72] the United States is the world's top producer of corn[76] and soybeans.[77] The New York Stock Exchange is the world's largest by dollar volume.[78] Coca-Cola and McDonald's are the two most recognized brands in the world.[79]
In August 2010, the American labor force comprised 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.[59] About 12% of workers are unionized, compared to 30% in Western Europe.[80] The World Bank ranks the United States first in the ease of hiring and firing workers.[81] In 2009, the United States had the third highest labor productivity per person in the world, behind Luxembourg and Norway. It was fourth in productivity per hour, behind those two countries and the Netherlands.[82] Compared to Europe, U.S. property and corporate income tax rates are generally higher, while labor and, particularly, consumption tax rates are lower.[83]
Income and human development
Main article: Income in the United States
See also: Income inequality in the United States, Poverty in the United States, and Affluence in the United States
According to the United States Census Bureau, the pretax median household income in 2007 was $49,777. The median ranged from $65,469 among Asian American households to $32,584 among African American households.[62] Using purchasing power parity exchange rates, the overall median is similar to the most affluent cluster of developed nations. After declining sharply during the middle of the 20th century, poverty rates have plateaued since the early 1970s, with 11–15% of Americans below the poverty line every year, and 58.5% spending at least one year in poverty between the ages of 25 and 75.[84][85] In 2009, 43.6 million Americans lived in poverty.[62]The U.S. welfare state is one of the least extensive in the developed world, reducing both relative poverty and absolute poverty by considerably less than the mean for rich nations,[86][87] though combined private and public social expenditures per capita are higher than in any of the Nordic countries.[88] While the American welfare state does well in reducing poverty among the elderly,[89] the young receive relatively little assistance.[90] A 2007 UNICEF study of children's well-being in twenty-one industrialized nations ranked the United States next to last.[91]
Despite strong increases in productivity, low unemployment, and low inflation, income gains since 1980 have been slower than in previous decades, less widely shared, and accompanied by increased economic insecurity. Between 1947 and 1979, real median income rose by over 80% for all classes, with the incomes of poor Americans rising faster than those of the rich.[92][93] Median household income has increased for all classes since 1980,[94] largely owing to more dual-earner households, the closing of the gender gap, and longer work hours, but growth has been slower and strongly tilted toward the very top (see graph).[86][92][95] Consequently, the share of income of the top 1%—21.8% of total reported income in 2005—has more than doubled since 1980,[96] leaving the United States with the greatest income inequality among developed nations.[86][97] The top 1% pays 27.6% of all federal taxes; the top 10% pays 54.7%.[98] 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.[99] The top 1% possesses 33.4% of net wealth.[100]
Science and technology
Main article: Science and technology in the United States
The rise of Nazism in the 1930s led many European scientists, including Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi, to immigrate to the United States. During World War II, the Manhattan Project developed nuclear weapons, ushering in the Atomic Age. The Space Race produced rapid advances in rocketry, materials science, and computers. The United States largely developed the ARPANET and its successor, the Internet. Today, the bulk of research and development funding, 64%, comes from the private sector.[102] The United States leads the world in scientific research papers and impact factor.[103] Americans possess high levels of technological consumer goods,[104] and almost half of U.S. households have broadband Internet access.[105] The country is the primary developer and grower of genetically modified food, representing half of the world's biotech crops.[106]
Transportation
The civil airline industry is entirely privately owned, while most major airports are publicly owned. The four largest airlines in the world by passengers carried are American; Southwest Airlines is number one.[112] Of the world's thirty busiest passenger airports, sixteen are in the United States, including the busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.[113] While transport of goods by rail is extensive, relatively few people use rail to travel, within or between cities.[114] Mass transit accounts for 9% of total U.S. work trips, compared to 38.8% in Europe.[115] Bicycle usage is minimal, well below European levels.[116]
Energy
See also: Energy policy of the United States
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, compared to Germany's 4.2 tons and Canada's 8.3 tons. 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.[118] The United States is the world's largest consumer of petroleum.[119] For decades, nuclear power has played a limited role relative to many other developed countries, in part due to public perception in the wake of the 1979 Three Mile Island accident. In 2007, several applications for new nuclear plants were filed.[120]Demographics
Main article: Demographics of the United States
| Race/Ethnicity (2008)[121] | |
|---|---|
| White | 79.8% |
| Black | 12.8% |
| Asian | 4.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.0% |
| Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander | 0.2% |
| Two or more races | 1.7% |
| Hispanic (of any race) | 15.4% |
The United States has a very diverse population—thirty-one ancestry groups have more than one million members.[128] White Americans are the largest racial group; German Americans, Irish Americans, and English Americans constitute three of the country's four largest ancestry groups.[128] African Americans are the nation's largest racial minority and third largest ancestry group.[128][121] Asian Americans are the country's second largest racial minority; the two largest Asian American ethnic groups are Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans.[128] In 2008, the U.S. population included an estimated 4.9 million people with some American Indian or Alaskan natives ancestry (3.1 million exclusively of such ancestry) and 1.1 million with some native Hawaiian or Pacific island ancestry (0.6 million exclusively).[121]
The population growth of Hispanic and Latino Americans (the terms are officially interchangeable) is a major demographic trend. The 46.9 million Americans of Hispanic descent[121] are identified as sharing a distinct "ethnicity" by the Census Bureau; 64% of Hispanic Americans are of Mexican descent.[129] Between 2000 and 2008, the country's Hispanic population increased 32% while the non-Hispanic population rose just 4.3%.[121] Much of this growth is from immigration; as of 2007, 12.6% of the U.S. population was foreign-born, with 54% of that figure born in Latin America.[130] Fertility is also a factor; the average Hispanic woman gives birth to 3.0 children in her lifetime, compared to 2.2 for non-Hispanic black women and 1.8 for non-Hispanic white women (below the replacement rate of 2.1).[124] Minorities (as defined by the Census Bureau, all those beside non-Hispanic, non-multiracial whites) constitute 34% of the population; they are projected to be the majority by 2042.[131]
About 82% of Americans live in urban areas (as defined by the Census Bureau, such areas include the suburbs);[1] about half of those reside in cities with populations over 50,000.[132] In 2008, 273 incorporated places had populations over 100,000, nine cities had more than 1 million residents, and four global cities had over 2 million (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston).[133] There are fifty-two metropolitan areas with populations greater than 1 million.[134] Of the fifty fastest-growing metro areas, forty-seven are in the West or South.[135] The metro areas of Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and Phoenix all grew by more than a million people between 2000 and 2008.[134]
 | This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (January 2011) |
Language
Main article: Languages of the United States
See also: Language Spoken at Home (U.S. Census)
| Languages (2007)[137] | |
|---|---|
| English (only) | 225.5 million |
| Spanish, incl. Creole | 34.5 million |
| Chinese | 2.5 million |
| French, incl. Creole | 2.0 million |
| Tagalog | 1.5 million |
| Vietnamese | 1.2 million |
| German | 1.1 million |
| Korean | 1.1 million |
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.[140] Other states, such as California, mandate the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[141] Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico.
Religion
Main article: Religion in the United States
See also: History of religion in the United States, Freedom of religion in the United States, Separation of church and state in the United States, and List of religious movements that began in the United States
Education
Main article: Education in the United States
American public education is operated by state and local governments, regulated by the United States Department of Education through restrictions on federal grants. Children are required in most states to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[146] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[147]The United States has many competitive private and public institutions of higher education, as well as local community colleges with open admission policies. Of Americans twenty-five 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.[148] The basic literacy rate is approximately 99%.[1][149] The United Nations assigns the United States an Education Index of 0.97, tying it for 12th in the world.[150]
Health
See also: Health care in the United States, Health care reform in the United States, and Health insurance in the United States
The United States life expectancy of 77.8 years at birth[151] is a year shorter than the overall figure in Western Europe, and three to four years lower than that of Norway, Switzerland, and Canada.[152] Over the past two decades, the country's rank in life expectancy has dropped from 11th to 42nd in the world.[153] The infant mortality rate of 6.37 per thousand likewise places the United States 42nd out of 221 countries, behind all of Western Europe.[154] Approximately one-third of the adult population is obese and an additional third is overweight;[155] the obesity rate, the highest in the industrialized world, has more than doubled in the last quarter-century.[156] Obesity-related type 2 diabetes is considered epidemic by health care professionals.[157]
The U.S. health care system far outspends any other nation's, measured in both per capita spending and percentage of GDP.[161] The World Health Organization ranked the U.S. health care system in 2000 as first in responsiveness, but 37th in overall performance. The United States is a leader in medical innovation. In 2004, the nonindustrial sector spent three times as much as Europe per capita on biomedical research.[162]
Unlike in all other developed countries, health care coverage in the United States is not universal. In 2004, private insurance paid for 36% of personal health expenditures, private out-of-pocket payments covered 15%, and federal, state, and local governments paid for 44%.[163] In 2005, 46.6 million Americans, 15.9% of the population, were uninsured, 5.4 million more than in 2001. The main cause of this rise is the drop in the number of Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance.[164] The subject of uninsured and underinsured Americans is a major political issue.[165] A 2009 study estimated that lack of insurance is associated with nearly 45,000 deaths a year.[166] In 2006, Massachusetts became the first state to mandate universal health insurance.[167] Federal legislation passed in early 2010 will create a near-universal health insurance system around the country by 2014.
Crime and law enforcement
Main articles: Law enforcement in the United States and Crime in the United States
See also: Law of the United States, Incarceration in the United States, and Capital punishment in the United States
Among developed nations, the United States has above-average levels of violent crime and particularly high levels of gun violence and homicide.[168] In 2007, there were 5.6 murders per 100,000 persons,[169] three times the rate in neighboring Canada.[170] The U.S. homicide rate, which decreased by 42% between 1991 and 1999, has been roughly steady since.[169] Gun ownership rights are the subject of contentious political debate.
The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate[171] and total prison population[172] in the world. At the start of 2008, more than 2.3 million people were incarcerated, more than one in every 100 adults.[173] The current rate is about seven times the 1980 figure.[174] African American males are jailed at about six times the rate of white males and three times the rate of Hispanic males.[171] In 2006, the U.S. incarceration rate was over three times the figure in Poland, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country with the next highest rate.[175] The country's high rate of incarceration is largely due to sentencing and drug policies.[171][176]
Though it has been abolished in most Western nations, capital punishment is sanctioned in the United States for certain federal and military crimes, and in thirty-six states. Since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty after a four-year moratorium, there have been more than 1,000 executions.[177] In 2006, the country had the sixth highest number of executions in the world, following China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, and Sudan.[178] In 2007, New Jersey became the first state to legislatively abolish the death penalty since the 1976 Supreme Court decision, followed by New Mexico in 2009.
Culture
Main articles: Culture of the United States and Society of the United States
See also: Social class in the United States
According to Geert Hofstede's cultural dimensions analysis, the United States has the highest individualism score of any country studied.[182] While the mainstream culture holds that the United States is a classless society,[183] scholars identify significant differences between the country's social classes, affecting socialization, language, and values.[184] The American middle and professional class has initiated many contemporary social trends such as modern feminism, environmentalism, and multiculturalism.[185] Americans' self-images, social viewpoints, and cultural expectations are associated with their occupations to an unusually close degree.[186] While Americans tend greatly to value socioeconomic achievement, being ordinary or average is generally seen as a positive attribute.[187] Though the American Dream, or the perception that Americans enjoy high social mobility, plays a key role in attracting immigrants, various studies indicate that the United States has less social mobility than Canada and the Nordic countries.[188]
Women now mostly work outside the home and receive a majority of bachelor's degrees.[189] In 2007, 58% of Americans age 18 and over were married, 6% were widowed, 10% were divorced, and 25% had never been married.[190] Same-sex marriage is contentious. Some states permit civil unions in lieu of marriage. Since 2003, several states have permitted gay marriage as the result of judicial or legislative action, while voters in more than a dozen states have barred the practice via referendum.
Popular media
Main articles: Cinema of the United States, Television in the United States, and Music of the United States
Americans are the heaviest television viewers in the world,[193] and the average viewing time continues to rise, reaching five hours a day in 2006.[194] The four major broadcast networks are all commercial entities. Americans listen to radio programming, also largely commercialized, on average just over two-and-a-half hours a day.[195] Aside from web portals and search engines, the most popular websites are Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, Blogger, eBay, and Craigslist.[196]
The rhythmic and lyrical styles of African American music have deeply influenced American music at large, distinguishing it from European traditions. Elements from folk idioms such as the blues and what is now known as old-time music were adopted and transformed into popular genres with global audiences. Jazz was developed by innovators such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington early in the 20th century. Country music developed in the 1920s, and rhythm and blues in the 1940s. Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry were among the mid-1950s pioneers of rock and roll. In the 1960s, Bob Dylan emerged from the folk revival to become one of America's most celebrated songwriters and James Brown led the development of funk. More recent American creations include hip hop and house music. American pop stars such as Presley, Michael Jackson, and Madonna have become global celebrities.[197]
Literature, philosophy, and the arts
Eleven U.S. citizens have won the Nobel Prize in Literature, most recently Toni Morrison in 1993. William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway are often named among the most influential writers of the 20th century.[200] Popular literary genres such as the Western and hardboiled crime fiction developed in the United States. The Beat Generation writers opened up new literary approaches, as have postmodernist authors such as John Barth, Thomas Pynchon, and Don DeLillo.
The transcendentalists, led by Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, established the first major American philosophical movement. After the Civil War, Charles Sanders Peirce and then William James and John Dewey were leaders in the development of pragmatism. In the 20th century, the work of W. V. O. Quine and Richard Rorty, built upon by Noam Chomsky, brought analytic philosophy to the fore of U.S. academics. John Rawls and Robert Nozick led a revival of political philosophy.
In the visual arts, the Hudson River School was a mid-19th-century movement in the tradition of European naturalism. The realist paintings of Thomas Eakins are now widely celebrated. The 1913 Armory Show in New York City, an exhibition of European modernist art, shocked the public and transformed the U.S. art scene.[201] Georgia O'Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, and others experimented with new styles, displaying a highly individualistic sensibility. Major artistic movements such as the abstract expressionism of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning and the pop art of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein developed largely in the United States. The tide of modernism and then postmodernism has brought fame to American architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Philip Johnson, and Frank Gehry.
Though largely overlooked at the time, Charles Ives's work of the 1910s established him as the first major U.S. composer in the classical tradition; other experimentalists such as Henry Cowell and John Cage created a distinctive American approach to classical composition. Aaron Copland and George Gershwin developed a new synthesis of popular and classical music. Choreographers Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham helped create modern dance, while George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins were leaders in 20th century ballet. Americans have long been important in the modern artistic medium of photography, with major photographers including Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Ansel Adams. The newspaper comic strip and the comic book are both U.S. innovations. Superman, the quintessential comic book superhero, has become an American icon.[202]
Food
Mainstream American cuisine is similar to that in other Western countries. Wheat is the primary cereal grain. Traditional American cuisine uses ingredients such as turkey, venison, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, squash, and maple syrup, indigenous foods employed by Native Americans and early European settlers. Slow-cooked pork and beef barbecue, crab cakes, potato chips, and chocolate chip cookies are distinctively American styles. Soul food, developed by African slaves, is popular around the South and among many African Americans elsewhere. Syncretic cuisines such as Louisiana creole, Cajun, and Tex-Mex are regionally important.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.[203] Americans generally prefer coffee to tea. Marketing by U.S. industries is largely responsible for making orange juice and milk ubiquitous breakfast beverages.[204] During the 1980s and 1990s, Americans' caloric intake rose 24%;[203] frequent dining at fast food outlets is associated with what health officials call the American "obesity epidemic." Highly sweetened soft drinks are widely popular; sugared beverages account for 9% of the average American's caloric intake.[205]
Sports
Main article: Sports in the United States
While most major U.S. sports have evolved out of European practices, basketball, volleyball, skateboarding, snowboarding, and cheerleading are American inventions. Lacrosse and surfing arose from Native American and Native Hawaiian activities that predate Western contact. Eight Olympic Games have taken place in the United States. The United States has won 2,301 medals at the Summer Olympic Games, more than any other country,and 253 in the Winter Olympic Games, the second most.
Measurement systems
Main article: Metrication in the United States
The country retains United States customary units, constituted largely by British imperial units such as yards, miles, and degrees Fahrenheit. Distinct units include the U.S. gallon and pint volume measurements. The United States is one of three countries, along with Burma and Liberia, that has not officially adopted the metric system. However, metric units are increasingly used in science, medicine, and many industrial fields.
