in Antarctica
(but has reserved the right to do so) and does not recognize the claims of
any other nation; Republic of Marshall Islands claims Wake Island
Climate:
mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida and 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
Terrain:
vast central plain, mountains in west, hills and low mountains in east;
rugged mountains and broad river valleys in Alaska; rugged, volcanic
topography in Hawaii
Natural resources:
coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron,
mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, petroleum, natural gas,
timber
Land use:
arable land:
20%
permanent crops:
0%
meadows and pastures:
26%

*United States, Geography

forest and woodland:
29%
other:
25%
Irrigated land:
181,020 km2 (1989 est.)
Environment:
pollution control measures improving air and water quality; agricultural
fertilizer and pesticide pollution; management of sparse natural water
resources in west; desertification; tsunamis, volcanoes, and earthquake
activity around Pacific Basin; permafrost in northern Alaska is a major
impediment to development
Note:
world's fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and China)

*United States, People

Population:
258,103,721 (July 1993 est.)
Population growth rate:
1.02% (1993 est.)
Birth rate:
15.48 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Death rate:
8.67 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Net migration rate:
3.41 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
8.36 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
75.8 years
male:
72.49 years
female:
79.29 years (1993 est.)
Total fertility rate:
2.05 children born/woman (1993 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
American(s)
adjective:
American
Ethnic divisions:
white 83.4%, black 12.4%, asian 3.3%, native american 0.8% (1992)
Religions:
Protestant 56%, Roman Catholic 28%, Jewish 2%, other 4%, none 10% (1989)
Languages:
English, Spanish (spoken by a sizable minority)
Literacy:
age 15 and over having completed 5 or more years of schooling (1991)
total population:
97.9%
male: