*

SOME BASICS

Demography. The United States has

population of over 280 million (2000 census).

2012 statistics show the number: nearly 313

Million People, (or exactly 312,780,968 people,
if you want to be pedantic), according to the
U.S. Census Bureau's end-of-2011 estimate.
In addition, net immigration is expected to add
one person to the population every 46 seconds.
Between births, deaths, and net immigration, the
population is expected to tick up by another
person every 17 seconds. That's a slight decline
from the start of 2011 (one every 15 seconds)
and the start of 2010 (one every 14 seconds).

The most populous state, California, with 33,871,648

inhabitants, contrasts with Wyoming, which has only
493,782 residents.
Latinos are expected to become the largest minority
group early in the twenty-first century.
The Asian population (including Pacific Islanders) is
defined as people of Chinese, Filipino, Japanese,
Indian, Korean, and Vietnamese origin.
It is estimated that there are eleven million Asians,
making up about 4 percent of the population.

The Native American population, which

includes natives of Alaska such as the Inuit
and Aleuts, is estimated to consist of over two
million people, slightly over 1 percent of the
population.
Roughly a third of Native Americans live on
reservations, trust lands, territories, and
mother lands under Native American
jurisdiction.

Age structure
0-14 years: 20% (male 32,050,686/female
30,719,945)
15-24 years: 13.8% (male 22,112,002/female
21,174,050)
25-54 years: 40.6% (male 63,713,761/female
63,556,345)
55-64 years: 12.1% (male 18,331,065/female
19,711,907)
65 years and over: 13.5% (male
18,424,785/female 24,052,919) (2012 est.)

Median age
total: 37.1 years
male: 35.8 years
female: 38.5 years (2012 est.)

Population growth
rate
0.9% (2012 est.)

Birth rate
13.7 births/1,000 population (2012 est.)

Death rate
8.4 deaths/1,000 population (July 2012 est.)

Net migration rate

3.62 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2012 est.)

Urbanization
urban population: 82% of total population (2010)
rate of urbanization: 1.2% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)

Major cities - population

New York-Newark 19.3 million; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa
Ana 12.675 million; Chicago 9.134 million; Miami 5.699 million;
WASHINGTON, D.C. (capital) 4.421 million (2009)

Sex ratio
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.77 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2011 est.)

Infant mortality rate

total: 6 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 6.6 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 5.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2012 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 78.49 years
male: 76.05 years
female: 81.05 years (2012 est.)

Total fertility rate

2.06 children born/woman (2012 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate

0.6% (2009 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS

1.2 million (2009 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths
17,000 (2009 est.)

Sanitation facility access

improved:
urban: 100% of population
rural: 99% of population
total: 100% of population
unimproved:
urban: 0% of population
rural: 1% of population
total: 0% of population

Ethnic groups
White 79.96%, Black 12.85%, Asian 4.43%, Amerindian
and Alaska native 0.97%, native Hawaiian and other
Pacific islander 0.18%, two or more races 1.61% (July
2007 estimate)
Note: a separate listing for Hispanic is not included
because the US Census Bureau considers Hispanic to
mean persons of Spanish/Hispanic/Latino origin
including those of Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican,
Dominican Republic, Spanish, and Central or South
American origin living in the US who may be of any race
or ethnic group (white, black, Asian, etc.); about 15.1%
of the total US population is Hispanic

Religions
Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%,
other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim
0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none
4% (2007 est.)

Languages
English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%,
Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census)
note: the US has no official national language, but English
has acquired official status in 28 of the 50 states;
Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii

Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99%
male: 99%
female: 99% (2003 est.)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)
total: 16 years
male: 15 years
female: 17 years (2008)
Education expenditures
5.5% of GDP (2007)

Maternal mortality rate

21 deaths/100,000 live births (2010)

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

1.3% (2002)

Health expenditures
16.2% of GDP (2009)

Physicians density
2.672 physicians/1,000 population (2004)

Hospital bed density

3.1 beds/1,000 population (2008)

Obesity - adult prevalence rate

33.9% (2006)