Page last modified 20 August 2023

United States of America (USA)

For data on individual States see below

Community

Area 9,826,675 square kilometres including water (Great Lakes, inland and coastal waters (9,161,966 square kilometres land area).

Population, Percentages of world population in brackets.

Figures for earlier years include only the European-colonised areas of America

52,000 (1650)#

250,000 (1700)#

1,360,000 (1754)]#

1,593,625 (1760)#

2,148,076 (1770)

2,780,369 (1780)

3,929,214 (1790)

5,308,483 (1800)

7,239,881 (1810)

9,638,453 (1820)

12,866,020 (1830)

17,069,453 (1840)

23,191,876 (1850)

31,443,321 (1860)

38,558,371 (1870)

50,155,783 (1880)

62,947,714 (1890)

75,994,575 (1900)

91,972,266 (1910)

105,710,620 (1920)

122,775,046 (1930)

131,669,275 (1940)

150,697,361 (1950)

179,323,175 (6.1%)* (1960)

203,211,926 (5.7%)* (1970)

226,545,805 (5.2%)* (1980)

248,709,873 (4.8%)* (1990)

281,421,906 (4.7%)* (2000)

309,326,000 (2010)

331,500,000 (2020)

# English colonies only, * Percentage of world population

Ethnicity, %

	Amerindian	Asian	Black	Hispanic	Pacific Islands	White
1790			19.2			80.7
1800			18.9			81.1
1810			19.0			81.0
1820			18.4			81.6
1830			18.1			81.9
1840			16.8			83.2
1850			15.7			84.3
1860			14.1			85.6
1870			14.0			86.2
1880			13.1			86.5
1890			11.9			87.5
1900			11.6			87.7
1910			10.7			88.7
1920		0.2	9.9			89.5
1930			9.7			89.6
1940			9.7			89.6
1950			10.0			89.3
1960			10.5			88.6
1970		0.8	11.1	4.5		83.5*
1980			11.7	9.9		78.4*
1990			12.1			80.3*
2000			12.3	12.5		75.1*
2010	1.0	4.4			0.2
2016	1.2	5.6	13.3	17.6		59.5*
2020						57.8
	Amerindian	Asian	Black	Hispanic	Pacific Islands	White

*Excluding Hispanic

Religion, % Christian divisions (see below for non-Christian religions)

	Christian All	Christ. Baptist	Christian Lutheran	Christian Methodist	Christian Orthodox	Christian Presbyter.	Christ. R C
1890		7.6	2.0	7.3		2.0	9.9
1990		10.0	3.0	5.0	2.0	2.0	23.0
2000							28.0
2010							23.0
2015	70.6	15.3					20.8

Religion, %, Non-Christian religions

	Buddhist	Hindu	Jewish	Mormon	Muslim	Unaffiliated
1830			0.0
1840			0.1
1850			0.2
1860			0.3
1880			0.5
1910			1.5
1930			3.4
1950			3.1
1964			3.0
1980			2.5
1990			2.0
2000			2.0
2010			1.7		0.8
2015	0.7	0.7	1.9	1.6	0.9	22.8

Birth and death rates Below replacement rate = 2.1

	Fertility Rate	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Death Rate	% Aged Under 15	% Aged Over 65	% Urban
1550			193.0*
1650			246.0*
1750			153.0*				2.0
1780							4.0
1790							5.1
1800	7.0 +	50.0					6.1
1810		50.0					7.3
1820		48.5					7.2
1830		47.0	90.0*				8.8
1840		45.5					10.8
1850		40.5					15.3
1860		39.8					19.8
1870		38.0	45.0*				25.7
1880							28.2
1890							31.5
1900		29.5	122.0	17.2	33.4		39.7
1910							45.6
1915			100.0				48.5
1920		23.7(+10.7)	13.0				51.2
1925		21.3(+9.6)	71.7	11.7			54.7
1930		18.9(+6.6)	65.0	11.3			56.1
1935		16.9 (+6.0)	55.7	10.9			56.5
1940		17.9(+7.2)		10.7			56.5
1945		19.6(+9.0)		10.6			58.5
1950			29.2	9.6	26.9	8.1	60.4/64.0(1)
1960	3.6	23.7(+14.2)	25.9	9.5	30.7	9.1	70.0
1961		22.5(+13.1)		9.4
1962		23.6(+14.4)		9.2
1963		21.8(+12.2)		9.6
1964		21.2(+11.8)		9.4
1965		19.6(+10.2)		9.4
1966		18.6(+9.0)		9.6
1967		18.0(+8.7)		9.3
1968		17.3(+7.8)		9.5
1969		17.6(+8.0)		9.6
1970	2.5	18.0(+8.6)	19.9	9.4	28.1	10.1	73.6
1971		17.7(+8.3)		9.3
1980	1.8	15.6 (+6.8)	12.6	8.8	22.7	11.6	73.7
1990	2.1	16.5 (+7.9)	9.4	8.6	21.7	12.6	75.3
2000	2.1	14.4 (+5.9)	7.1	8.5	21.7	12.3	79.1
2010	2.1	13.0 (+5.0)	6.2	8.0	20.2	13.0	80.8
2015	1.8	12.4 (+4.2)	5.7	8.2	19.2	14.6	81.6
2016			5.7		19.0	15.0	81.8
2017	1.8	11.8 (+3.3)	5.6	8.5
2018			5.6(2)		18.7	15.8
	Fertility Rate	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Death Rate	% Aged Under 15	% Aged Over 65	% Urban

*White American children only

(1) Change of definition of �urban�

(2) 4.8 for White children; 11.7 for Black children

Life expectancy,

M = male, F = female, B = Black, W = White

47.3 (1900); 46.3 (M), 48.3 (F), 33.0 (B), 47.6 (W)

50.0 (1910); 48.4 (M), 51.8 (F), 35.6 (B), 50.3 (W)

54.1 (1920); 53.6 (M), 54.6 (F), 54.9 (W), 45.3 (B)

59.7 (1930); 58.1 (M), 61.6 (F), 61.4 (W), 48.1 (B)

62.9 (1940); 60.8 (M), 65.2 (F), 64.2 (W), 53.1 (B)

68.2 (1950); 65.6 (M), 71.1 (F), 60.8 (B), 69.1 (W)

69.7 (1960); 66.6 (M), 73.1 (F)

70.8 (1970); 67.1 (M), 74.7 (F)

73.6 (1980); 70.0 (M), 77.4 (F)

75.0 (1990); 71.8 (M), 78.8 (F)

76.6 (2000); 74.1 (M), 79.3 (F)

78.5 (2010); 76.2 (M), 81.0 (F)

78.9 (2020); 76.4 (M), 81.5 (F)

Population of principal cities � see individual States below

Capital� = WASHINGTON DC

Wealth; Gross Domestic Product (nominal values)

	GDP, US$ million	GDP per capita, US$
1914	37,000	377
1930*	75,700*
1940	97,100
1945	199,200
1948	223,500	1,525
1950	284,000	1,593
1956	358,000
1960	543,300	3,007
1965	743,700	3,828
1970	1,039,680	5,247
1975	1,635,180	7,820
1980	2,795,550	12,598
1985	4,213,000	18,269
1990	5,803,250	23,955
1995	7,400,550	30,068
2000	9,962,500	36,450
2005	13,093,000	44,308
2010	14,964,000	48,374
2015	18,037,000	56,207
2016	18,569,000	57,467

*US GDP fell, during the Great Depression, from US$ 87,800 in 1929 to US$ 40,200 million in 1933

GDP by primary sector

	Agriculture % GDP	Agriculture % employed	Industry % GDP	Industry % employed	Services % GDP	Services % employed
1800		83.0
1840		68.0
1850	65.0	62.0
1860		58.0
1880		52.0				25.0
1900	38.0	35.0				28.0
1910		32.0
1920		28.0				34.0
1930		22.0
1940		18.0				35.0
1950	13.0	12.5
1960		7.0		36.0		57.0
1970	5.0	6.0
1980				32.0		66.0
1990	2.1	3.0	25.0	26.0	73.0	70.0
2000	2.0	2.0
2010	1.2	2.0	22.1	22.0	76.7	76.0
2016	0.9		18.9		80.2

Communications

Ethnicity (excluding indigenous peoples)

	African	Dutch	English	German	Scottish+Irish
1763(1) (N America)	18%	3%	Ca. 50%	6%	18%

(1) Most of the remaining ca. 7% were French, Spanish, Swedish and other European.

Language Official; English

	Arabic	Chinese	English	French	Spanish	Tagalog	Vietnamese
1940			78.6		1.6
1990					6.0
2016	0.3	1.0	80.0	0.3	13.0	0.5	0.4

	German	Italian	Norwegian	Polish	Russian	Swedish	Yiddish
1940	4.2	3.2	0.6	2.0	0.5	0.7	1.5

Literacy

77.8% (1880)

86.7% (1890)

89.3% (1900)

96.0% (1930)

99.9% (1980 and after)

Physical communications � roads, NOTE; all figures in 1,000s

	Roads (km)	Surfaced (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Commercial Vehicles
1895				0.3
1900			14	8
1905			80	78
1909			300		100
1919				7,600
1920		620	10,500	9,000
1922				13,000	1,000
1925				17,500
1927		900		20,200
1930				23,000
1938	4,709		29,486
1940			32,000	27,000
1945	4,808	2,287
1946				28,000
1950			49,000	40,000
1955				52,000
1960	5,566	3,916	74,000	62,000	12,000
1963			82,000
1970	6,100		108,000	89,000	18,000
1979			151,793		33,044
1985	6,179	5,568	171,691	132,108	38,989
1990	6,210	5,629	192,915		44,479
1996	6,294		206,365		64,756
2001	6,317		230,428		92,045
2003			236,760	135,670	94,943
2004			238,000	136,431	100,017
2005	6,430		241,194	136,568	103,819
2007			247,265		110,497
2010	6,548		248,232
2013			252,715
2015	6,689		263,600	183,172
	Roads (km)	Surfaced (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Commercial Vehicles

Railways; First railway in the USA opened 1826; Baltimore to Ellicotts Mills, regular services began 1830, over 22 kilometres.� The first transcontinental railway, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, opened in 1869.

Length, kilometres

37 (1830)

1,800 (1835)

4,537 (1840)

14,524 (1850)

49,308 (1860)

85,204 (1870)

150,160 (1880)

263,404 (1890)

311,287 (1900)

386,872 (1910)

426,210 (1916)*

407,080 (1920)

386,484 (1930)

376,209 (1940)

360,284 (1950)

369,638 (1959)

356,790 (1968)

355,462 (1969)

234,100 (1999)

226,000 (2008)

224,792 (2010)

*peak length

Electronic communications, 1,000s. In December 2008, the percentage of mobile-only households in the USA, at 20.0%, exceeded the percentage of landline-only households. TV broadcasting began 1928; colour broadcasting began 1954

	Telephones (landlines)	Mobile Telephones	Radios	Televisions	PCs	Internet Users
1880	48
1890	278
1900	1,356
1910	7,635
1920	13,329
1924			2,500
1930	20,202		12,000
1937			28,000
1940	21,928		45,000
1946				7(1)
1948				35
1949				1,000
1950	43,004		85,200	6,000
1951				10,000
1954	51,000
1956				35,000
1957				0.1 colour
1958					1*
1960	74,342		168,500	56,000
1962	80,964
1963	83,000			60,000
1964				2.4 colour
1965				68.2 4.5 colour	22(2)
1968				78,000
1969				81,000
1971				93,000
1975				135,000
1980	94,280
1981					2,120
1984		92
1985					25,270
1990	136,114		529,440	203,000	54,200
1995		340		215,000	86,300
1997				219,000
1998						73,000
2000	192,513	109,500	598,000	241,000	165,000
2001				248,000
2004					223,800	195,000
2005		201,650
2006				285,000
2010	151,000	279,000				245,000
2016	121,530	416,684				246,810
	Telephones (landlines)	Mobile Telephones	Radios	Televisions	PCs	Internet Users

(1) In 1946, when the US had 7,000 TV sets in use, 178,000 more were manufactured� in the USA. In 1948, 975,000 TV sets were made in the US. In 1949, over 3 million sets were manufactured.

(2)Total number of electronic computers in use, 1,000s (not �PCs�).

Tourism: Visitors to the USA,

2,964,000 (1950)

9,800,000 (1960)

13,100,000 (1970)

22,499,538 (1980)

39,363,000 (1990)

43,318,000 (1995)

51,238,000 (2000)

49,206,000 (2005)

60,010,000 (2010)

77,510,000 (2015)

_____________________________________________________________________

243) Alabama

Community

Area 131,426 square kilometres. Settled by the French from 1702; admitted to the Union as the 22^nd State in 1819.

Population,

1,250 (1800)

9,046 (1810)

127,901 (1820)

309,527 (1830)

590,756 (1840)

771,623 (1850)

964,201 (1860)

996,992 (1870)

1,262,505 (1880)

1,513,401 (1890)

1,828,687 (1900)

2,138,093 (1910)

2,348,174 (1920)

2,646,248 (1930)

2,832,961 (1940)

3,061,743 (1950)

3,266,521 (1960)

3,444,165 (1970)

3,893,888 (1980)

4,040,587 (1990)

4,447,100 (2000)

4,779,736 (2010)

4,863,000 (2016)

Ethnicity, %

	Amerindian	Asian	Black	Hispanic	Mixed race	White
1900			45.2
1910						57.4
1930			35.7			64.3
1940			34.7			65.3
1950						67.9
1960						69.9
1970			26.2			73.6
1980			25.6			73.8
1990			25.3	0.6		73.6
2000				1.7		71.1
2010	0.6	1.1	26.2	1.5	1.5	67.0

Religion, %,

	Buddhist	Christian Protestant	Christian R C	Jewish	Muslim	No Religion
2014	0.2	78.0	7.0	0.2	0.2	12.0

Birth and death rates

	Fertility rate	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Death Rate	% Urban
1820					0.0
1830					1.0
1840					2.1
1850					4.6
1860					5.1
1870					6.3
1880					5.4
1890					10.1
1900					11.9
1910					17.3
1920					21.7
1930					28.1
1940					30.2
1950					43.8
1959		25.7 (+16.7)	32.1	9.0
1960					54.8
1967		18.0 (+9.1)	26.9	8.9
1970					58.4
1978		16.1 (+6.9)	10.9	9.2
1980					60.0
1985		14.6 (+5.2)	13.9	9.4
1990		15.3 (+5.7)	10.8	9.6	56.8
2000		14.2 (+4.1)	9.4	10.1	55.4
2008	2.1	13.8 (+3.6)	9.0	10.2
2010	1.9				59.0
2014		12.0 (+1.6)		1..4
2015	1.8		8.3

Life Expectancy,

75.4 (2009);

	% Aged under 18	% Aged over 65
2010	23.7	13.8
2015		15.4

Population of principal cities, 1,000s MA = Metropolitan Area

	Birmingham	Huntsville	Mobile	MONTGOMERY	Tuscaloosa
1790			1.5
1830			3	0.7
1850		3	21	9	3.5
1880	3		31	17	2.5
1890	26			22	4.2
1900	38	8	38	30	5.1
1910	133	9	52	38	8.5
1930	260		68	66	21
1940	268		79	78	27
1950	326	16	129	106	46
1960	341	72	195	134	63
1970	301	139	190	133	66
1980	284	143	200	178	75
1990	908 MA	239 MA	477 MA	293 MA	150 MA
2000	921 MA	342 MA	540 MA	333 MA	165 MA
2017	1,145 MA	441 MA	414 MA	374 MA	236 MA

Wealth

Gross State Product,

US$ 121,490 million (2001)

US$ 151,610 million (2005)

US$ 169,856 million (2009)

US$ 205,625 million (2016)

Income per capita,

US$ 20,842 (1997)

US$ 24,589 (2001)

US$ 29,623 (2005)

US$ 33,360 (2009)

US$ 42,124 (2016)

GDP by primary sector

	Agriculture % GDP	Agriculture % employed	Industry % GDP	Industry % employed	Services % GDP	Services % employed
1900		64.5

Communications

Language, %, MT

	English	French	German	Spanish
2000	96.1
2010	95.1	0.3	0.4	2.2

Literacy

49.0% (1880)

59.0% (1890)

66.0% (1900)

Physical communications � roads, railways

	Roads (km)	Surfaced (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Commercial Vehicles	Railways (km)
1854						354
1900						6,750
1906						7,245
1944	95,635					8,294
1969	108,237	57,902				7,326
1978	139,200	91,700				7,100
1992	145,125	105,670	3,929,657
2002	151,096		4,427,999			7,565
2007	156,690		4,677,771
2010	163,536
2015	164,251			2,280,000

Tourism

Visitors to Alabama,

61,000 (2004)

_____________________________________________________________________

244) Alaska

Community

Area 1,717,854 square kilometres (land area 1,481,346 square kilometres). Acquired from Russia in 1867; became the 49^th State in 1959.

Population,

33,426 (1880)

32,052 (1890)

60,043 (1900)

64,356 (1910)

55,036 (1920)

59,278 (1930)

72,524 (1940)

128,643 (1950)

226,167 (1960)

300,382 (1970)

401,851 (1980)

550,043 (1990)

626,932 (2000)

710,231 (2010)

741,984 (2016)

Ethnicity, %

	Amerindian	Asian	Black	Hispanic	Mixed race	White	Japanese/ Chinese
1880						14.0*
1900	46.0					48.0	6.0
1939			>0.1	>0.1		54.0
1950						72.1
1970	16.9	0.9	3.0			78.8
1980			3.4			77.1
1990	15.6	3.6	4.1	3.2		75.5
2000	15.6	4.0	3.5	4.0	5.5	69.3
2010	14.8	5.4	3.3	2.6	7.3	64.1

*Majority population were Inuit and Amerindian. Before 1800 around 15,000 Aleuts lived on the Aleutian Islands. However, after Russian colonisation began, exposure to new diseases caused their numbers to fall to just 2,500. In 1880, before the territory of Alaska was transferred to the USA from Russia, the entire Alaskan population was around 67% Inuit and other Amerindian.

Birth and death rates

	Fertility rate	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Death Rate	% Urban
1890					0.0
1900					24.5
1910					9.5
1920					5.6
1930					13.2
1940					24.0
1950					26.6
1960		37.1 (+30.8)	37.3	6.3	37.9
1970		22.6 (+17.9)	29.4	4.7	56.9
1980		22.8 (+18.8)	16.1	4.0	64.3
1985		24.5 (+20.5)	12.0	4.0
1990					61.0
1995		17.0 (+12.8)	7.7	4.2
2000		15.9 (+11.3)	8.1	4.6	65.6
2008	2.5	16.7 (+11.6)	6.9	5.1
2010	2.5				66.0
2014		15.6 (+5.6)		10.0
2015	2.2		6.9

Life Expectancy,

78.3 (2009);

	Aged under 18 %	Aged over 65 %
2010	26.4	7.7
2015		9.5

Population of principal cities, MA = Metropolitan Area

	Anchorage^1	Fairbanks^2	JUNEAU^3
1890			1,253
1900			1,864
1910		3,541	1,644
1920	1,856	1,155	3,068
1930	2,277	2,101	4,043
1940	3,495	3,455	5,729
1950	11,254	5,771	5,956
1960	44,237	13,311	6,797
1980	174,430	22,645	19,528
1990	226,338	30,843	26,751
2000	260,683	30,224	30,711
2010		100,605 MA
2016	401,635 MA		32,468

¹Anchorage was founded in 1918

²Fairbanks was founded in 1902 when gold was discovered in the region.

³Juneau has been the State capital since 1900; previous capital, Sitka.

Wealth

Gross State Product,

US$ 28,581 million (2001)

US$ 39,314 million (2005)

US$ 45,709 million (2009)

US$ 50,404 million (2016)

Income per capita,

US$ 21,603 (1992)

US$ 25,305 (1995)

US$ 30,936 (2001)

US$ 31,792 (2002)

US$ 34,085 (2004)

US$ 35,433 (2005)

US$ 39,934 (2007)

US$ 44,039 (2008)

US$ 43,209 (2009)

US$ 68,356 (2016)

Communications

Language, % MT

	Asian language	English	Spanish
2011	4.3	83.4	3.5

Physical communications � roads and railways

	Roads (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Railways (km)
1906				219
1938	3,820			1,180
1948				826
1959	8,896
1967	10,539	123,887
1979	19,950	302,100
1991		470,903
1996	21,250	531,000
2003	22,766	636,783		840
2007	23,245	680,141		845
2010	26,248
2015	26,248		193,000

TV began 1953

Tourism

Visitors to Alaska,

430,000 (1978)

694,700 (1992)

1,050,000 (1993)

1,350,000 (1998)

2,700,000 (2004)

_____________________________________________________________________

245) Arizona

Community

Area 294,313 square kilometres. The area was ceded by Mexico to the US after the Mexican War of 1848. Arizona became the 48^th State in 1912.

Population,

6,482 (1860)

9,658 (1870)

40,440 (1880)

88,243 (1890)

122,931 (1900)

204,354 (1910)

334,162 (1920)

435,573 (1930)

499,261 (1940)

749,587 (1950)

1,302,161 (1960)

1,775,399 (1970)

2,718,215 (1980)

3,665,228 (1990)

5,130,632 (2000)

6,392,017 (2010)

6,828,065 (2015)

Ethnicity, %

	Amerindian	Asian	Black	Hispanic	Mixed race	White
1900	23.3
1906	14.4
1910			1.0			83.8
1930			2.5			86.9
1940			2.9
1950			3.5			87.3
1960			3.3			89.8
1970			3.0			90.6
1980	5.6		2.7	16.2		74.2
1990