73 Interesting Facts About United States

Last updated on December 29th, 2022

56. The United States is one of the 17 megadiverse countries (megadiverse refers to a country where the majority of Earth’s species and a high number of endemic species are found) of the world. The other sixteen countries include Australia, Brazil, China, Columbia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, and Venezuela.[2]

57. American Civil War happened between 1861 and 1865 when the United States and 11 southern states (South Carolina, Mississippi, FloridaAlabamaGeorgiaLouisianaTexasVirginiaArkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina) left the union and formed the Confederate States of America. The war happened during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln (the 16th president of the U.S.) Lincoln was the candidate of the explicitly antislavery Republican Party. Soon after his election as the president of the nation, seven Southern states organized as the Confederate States of America. More than 3 million Union and Confederate soldiers fought during the Civil War. The war was essentially fought to abolish slavery in the region.

58. The U.S. also shares maritime borders with Russia, Cuba, and the Bahamas.[24]

59. Did you know that there are 50 states in the United States of America and not 52? There are various myths that there are 52 and not 50 states. The U.S. flag has 50 stars on it, each representing a state in the union.[25]

60. The first moving assembly line for the mass production of an entire automobile was installed in America by the legendary businessman and industrialist Henry Ford on December 01, 1913.[26]

61. The Watergate scandal emerged in the June 17 of 1972 when several burglars while attempting to steal important documents and wiretapping phones were arrested in the office of the Democratic National Committee located in Washington D.C. The conspiracy was linked with the then president Nixon when he was running for reelection. In August 1974, Nixon resigned after his role in the conspiracy was revealed.[27]

62. Did you know that more than 3 million people including 58,000 Americans were killed in the Vietnam War? The war happened due to the conflict between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The United States of America supported South Vietnam during the war, which they unfortunately lost.[28]

63. Apple Computer launched its Macintosh computer in 1984. The company is today valued at more than $1 Trillion, becoming the second publicly traded company to reach the mark. The first company to cross $1 Trillion valuation was Oil Giant PetroChina which crossed the mark in 2007, however, for a brief period.[29]

64. The United States is the largest producer of nuclear power, while France has the largest share of electricity generated by nuclear power.[31]

Nuclear power plant on the Hudson River, north of New York City.

65. The U.S. has 99 operating commercial nuclear reactors at 61 nuclear power plants in 30 states. On an average, these nuclear reactors are 37 years old. The oldest of these began its commercial operation in December 1969. Illinois has more reactors than any other state with 11 reactors at 6 plants. And the largest of these reactors is located in Mississippi.[30]

66. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in every four deaths in the United States is due to heart attack. Every year in America about 735,000 people have a heart attack.[32]

67. Did you know that the foreign motor vehicle manufacturing companies are manufacturing more cars and trucks in the United States than that of all of the U.S. automobile manufacturing companies combined?[33]

68. Did you know that the United States has sent athletes to every modern Olympic Games except the 1980 Summer Olympics, during which it led a boycott. Note that in Summer Olympics between 1896 and 2018, the U.S. has won the most number of medals than any other nation.[34,35,36]

69. The United States is at the fourth spot among the countries with most number of internet users. China leads the tally with a huge margin, followed by European Union (2nd) and India (3rd).[37]

70. Did you know that there are at least 5,000 aircraft in the skies over the U.S territory at any given time? These aircrafts are handled by 521 air traffic control towers with a combined working strength of 14,050 air traffic controllers.[38]

71. The U.S. is one of the most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations.

72. At 33.4%, the U.S. holds the world’s largest share of wealth.[1]

73. Amazingly, 100 acres of pizza are served in the U.S. every day.

United States – Quick facts and information

Independence4 July 1776 (declared independence from Great Britain); 3 September 1783 (recognized by Great Britain)
Capital CityWashington, D.C.
(38°53′N 77°01′W)
Largest CityNew York City
(40°43′N 74°00′W)
Total area9,833,517 sq km
Population337,341,954 (2022 est.)
Official LanguageNone
DemonymAmerican
Suffrage18 years of age; universal
BordersCanada and Mexico
CurrencyUnited States dollar ($) (USD)
ReligionProtestant 46.5%, Roman Catholic 20.8%, Jewish 1.9%, Mormon 1.6%, other Christian 0.9%, Muslim 0.9%, Jehovah's Witness 0.8%, Buddhist 0.7%, Hindu 0.7%, other 1.8%, unaffiliated 22.8%, don't know/refused 0.6% (2014 est.)
Life expectancy80.59 years (2022)
Life expectancy at birth indicates the number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life.
Climatemostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
Terrainvast central plain, mountains in west, hills and low mountains in east; rugged mountains and broad river valleys in Alaska; rugged, volcanic topography in Hawaii
Government typeconstitutional federal republic
PresidentJoe Biden (D)
Vice PresidentKamala Harris (D)
Natural resourcescoal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, rare earth elements, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, petroleum, natural gas, timber, arable land
Agricultural land44.5%
Birth rate12.28 births/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Death rate8.38 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Sex ratio0.97 male(s)/female (2022 est.)
National symbolbald eagle
National anthem"The Star-Spangled Banner"
National colorsred, white, blue
Industrieshighly diversified, world leading, high-technology innovator, second-largest industrial output in the world; petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining
Exports$2,127,250,000,000 (2020 est.)
refined petroleum, crude petroleum, cars and vehicle parts, integrated circuits, aircraft (2019)
Imports$2,808,960,000,000 (2020 est.)
cars, crude petroleum, computers, broadcasting equipment, packaged medicines (2019)
GDP - per capita (PPP)$60,200 (2020 est.)
Time Zone(UTC−4 to −12, +10, +11)
Internet country code.us
Calling Code+1
Drives on theRight
Table last updatedAugust 01, 2022