United States: People & Society#

Population323,995,528 (July 2016 est.)
Nationalitynoun: American(s)
adjective: American
Ethnic groupswhite 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
LanguagesEnglish 79.2%, Spanish 12.9%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 3.3%, other 0.9% (2011 est.)
note: data represents the language spoken at home; the US has no official national language, but English has acquired official status in 31 of the 50 states; Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii
ReligionsProtestant 46.5%, Roman Catholic 20.8%, Mormon 1.6%, Jehovah's Witness 0.8%, other Christian 0.9%, Jewish 1.9%, Muslim 0.9%, Buddhist 0.7%, Hindu 0.7%, other 1.8%, unaffiliated 22.8%, don't know/refused 0.6% (2014 est.)
Age structure0-14 years: 18.84% (male 31,182,660/female 29,854,687)
15-24 years: 13.46% (male 22,360,342/female 21,252,215)
25-54 years: 39.6% (male 64,170,791/female 64,135,619)
55-64 years: 12.85% (male 20,081,837/female 21,536,994)
65 years and over: 15.25% (male 21,895,128/female 27,525,255) (2016 est.)
Dependency ratiostotal dependency ratio: 50.9%
youth dependency ratio: 28.6%
elderly dependency ratio: 22.3%
potential support ratio: 4.5% (2015 est.)
Median agetotal: 37.9 years
male: 36.6 years
female: 39.3 years (2016 est.)
Population growth rate0.81% (2016 est.)
Birth rate12.5 births/1,000 population (2016 est.)
Death rate8.2 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.)
Net migration rate3.9 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)
Population distributionlarge urban clusters are spread throughout the eastern half of the US (particularly the Great Lakes area, northeast, east, and southeast) and the western tier states; mountainous areas, principally the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian chain, deserts in the southwest, the dense boreal forests in the extreme north, and the central prarie states are less densely populated; Alaska's population is concentrated along its southern coast - with particular emphasis on the city of Anchorage - and Hawaii's is centered on the island of Oahu
Urbanizationurban population: 81.6% of total population (2015)
rate of urbanization: 1.02% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)
Major urban areas - populationNew York-Newark 18.593 million; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana 12.31 million; Chicago 8.745 million; Miami 5.817 million; Dallas-Fort Worth 5.703 million; WASHINGTON, D.C. (capital) 4.955 million (2015)
Sex ratioat birth: NA
0-14 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 1 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 0.93 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2016 est.)
Mother's mean age at first birth25.6 (2011 est.)
Maternal mortality rate14 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)
Infant mortality ratetotal: 5.8 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 6.3 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 5.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.)
Life expectancy at birthtotal population: 79.8 years
male: 77.5 years
female: 82.1 years (2016 est.)
Total fertility rate1.87 children born/woman (2016 est.)
Contraceptive prevalence rate76.4%
note: percent of women aged 15-44 (2006/10)
Health expenditures17.1% of GDP (2014)
Physicians density2.45 physicians/1,000 population (2011)
Hospital bed density2.9 beds/1,000 population (2011)
Drinking water sourceimproved:
urban: 99.4% of population
rural: 98.2% of population
total: 99.2% of population
unimproved:
urban: 0.6% of population
rural: 1.8% of population
total: 0.8% of population (2015 est.)
Sanitation facility accessimproved:
urban: 100% of population
rural: 100% of population
total: 100% of population
unimproved:
urban: 0% of population
rural: 0% of population
total: 0% of population (2015 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rateNA
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDSNA
HIV/AIDS - deathsNA
Obesity - adult prevalence rate35% (2014)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight0.5% (2012)
Education expenditures4.9% of GDP (2013)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)total: 17 years
male: 16 years
female: 17 years (2014)
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24total: 13.4%
male: 14.5%
female: 12.2% (2014 est.)