Curiosities of the United States

By
Kaja

day

29 January 2020

The United States of America is a very large and incredibly diverse country in many ways. They contain many interesting facts that will surely surprise you.

It is known that in every country we will meet such things that we can’t find anywhere else, right? What is normal for one nation, is not necessarily for another.

You probably know a lot of curiosities about the USA, but I hope you will find here what you have never heard before.

However, let’s start with general information to bring you closer to the United States.

The United States is a federal state in North America, consisting of 50 states.
The USA borders with Canada to the north and Mexico to the south.
The capitol of USA is Washington, formally the District of Columbia commonly referred to as Washington or D.C

English is widely recognized as the official language of the United States, and the second most used language is Spanish.
The official currency is the US Dollar, the abbreviation is USD.

The population of the United States is 327.2 million (data from 2018).
The USA is the third largest country after China and India and the fourth largest in terms of area after Russia, Canada and China.
The area of the United States is 9 629 091 km².
The political system is the presidential republic.
One of the most popular dates in the US is July 4th. It was on this day in 1776 that the country gained independence from Great Britain.
The main territory of the continental United States is divided into four time zones and in addition there are two zones applicable, among others, in Alaska and Hawaii.

It is estimated that 10.6 million people of Polish origin live in the USA (data from 2001).
The main places of residence of Polonia in the USA are the cities of Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle.
The United States is the country with the largest Polish diaspora in the world.
The average American earns on average 4x more than a Polish.
The United States of America is also called Uncle Sam.

The lowest point is Death Valley 86 m a.s.l.
The highest mountain in the North America is Denali 6194 m a.s.l. In the years 1896–2015 it was called Mount McKinley.
The lowest temperature recorded was -62 degrees Celsius in Alaska.
The highest temperature recorded was 56 degrees Celsius in Death Valley, California.
The country’s natural threats are hurricanes along the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico, tornadoes in central and south-eastern areas (Avenue of Tornadoes), tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes, mudslides, fires in California and floods.
The American penitentiary system holds 2 310 984 people, which costs about USD 60 billion a year. Data from 2008.
It is estimated that, on average, every 12 seconds one person arrives in the United States, every 32 seconds a person comes from another country as a result of migration, every 7 seconds a human is born and every 12 somebody dies.
The average population density is 30.2 people / km².
GDP per capita is USD 44,000
Average family income: USD 48,201 a year.
Unemployment rate is 4% – data from 2019.
The United States is the largest food producer in the world.
New York is the world’s second largest financial center after London when it comes to the amount of money flowing.

Nowy Jork

Taxes account for around 27% of GDP and this level is much lower than in European countries, compared to Poland – 43.5%.
In 2015, the United States was the second most-visited country in the world (after France), with 77.510 million tourists visiting the country.
In the United States, jazz, country, gospel, rock, thrash metal, grunge, blues, pop, disco, hip-hop, house or techno were born.
The United States has no official state religion. in 2008, 78.4% of Americans identified themselves as Christians and 51.3% of Americans belonged to various Protestant Churches.
In the US, health insurance is voluntary except for the state of Massachusetts.
Over 41 million Americans are not insured.
George Washington was the first president of the country, from which the name of the current capital comes.

Washington Monument in National Mall

The white population constitutes the majority of American citizens. Its percentage is close to 80% of the total population. Over 15% of this ethnic group is Latin American.
82% of Americans live in cities.
The United States is over 31 times larger than Poland.
North America is a continent with an area of 24,200,000 km² (representing 16.3% of the total land area on the globe).
American Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon) is currently the richest person in the world with a wealth worth 115.6 billion dollars.

Jeff Bezos

22 million chickens are consumed every day in America.
The average US citizen drinks over 600 liters of carbonated drinks per year.
Over 66% of Americans are obese or overweight.
Medical cannabis has been legalized in 34 states but for recreational purposes, you can use it legally in 10 states, including in the Distric of Columbia.
California is the most populous, richest and third largest state of the United States.

California state flag

All states of America

The United States of America consists of 50 states, including 48 continental states and the state of Alaska -which is separated from other continental states by the area of Canada – and the state of Hawaii, located on the archipelago of the same name.