USA at a glance (Statistics

USA auf einen Blick german/deutsch

Name:
United States of America (50 states and the District of Columbia including the capital, Washington)

Climate:
mainly warm and cool moderate zones

Location:
North American continent between 30 and 49 degrees latitude;
Other territories: outlying territories (with varying legal status):
Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa

Area:
9,809,155 km²

Capital:
Washington, D.C.;
city: 572,059 inhabitants ( 2000),
metropolitan area: 4.67 million inhabitants (1998)

Population:
281.422 million (2000), of which:
approx. 34.4 million African-Americans,
approx. 30.2 million Americans of Latin American origin,
approx. 10.5 million Asian-Americans,
approx. 2.4 million Native Americans

Population density:
approx. 28 inhabitants per km²,
80% of the population live in urban conurbations

Language:
English

Religion:
62% of the population belong to 238 religious communities, of
which are 27.5% Protestant (Baptists, Methodist, Lutheran,
Presbyterian), 26% Roman Catholic, 2.6% Jewish

National Day:
4 July - Independence Day

Independence:
4 July 1776

System of government:
Presidential republic with balanced division of powers;
Parliament: Congress with two houses:
Senate (100 seats)
House of Representatives (435 seats)

Administrative structure:
Federal state with Federal, State, County and local administration

Principal media:
3 established national TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC), 2 expanding
(new) national TV networks (Fox, WB), 2 established 24-hour news
channels (CNN, CNN-Headline News),
supraregional dailies (USA Today, Wall Street Journal, New York
Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune,
Boston Globe), political weeklies (Time, Newsweek, US News and
World Report, etc.) (2000)