The United States has the world’s largest economy, supported by a number of industries including retail, financial services, manufacturing, information technology, mining, construction, and agriculture.

Gross domestic product (GDP)

United States recorded GDP of USD 14,660 billion in 2010, increasing 3.83% from 2009. The country has evinced a GDP growth rate of 0.04% CAGR between 2001 and 2010. Additonally, per capita GDP increased from USD 47,274 in 2010, to USD 45,918 in 2009.

(Source: BEA)

(Source: BEA)

Gross national income (GNI)

In 2009, GNI accounted to USD 14,011 billion, declining 2.26% from 2008.

(Source: World Bank)

(Source: World Bank)

Income tax rate

Income tax rates vary from 10% to 35% for individuals, depending on the following six income bands:

(Source: irs.gov)

Corporate tax rate

In the US, the corporate tax rate is 35%. The rate has stayed at this level since 1993.

(Source: OECD)

Inflation rate

Inflation rate was recorded at -0.4% in 2009, decreasing 4.2% from the previous year. The highest ever inflation rate in United States was 18% in 1918.

(Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Foreign direct investment (FDI)

Between 2007-2009, FDI inflows to the US increased significantly. At the end of 2009, the total investment outflows totaled USD 4,051,191 million, increasing 8.24% over 2008. Furthermore, total investment inflows were USD 2,672,786 million, also increasing 6.01% compared to 2008.

(Source: BEA)

(Source: BEA)

Foreign portfolio investment (FPI)

In Q3 of 2010, net FPI indicated a loss of USD 25,839 million, declining negatively by 10.54% compared to Q3 of 2009.

(Source: Federal Reserve System)

(Source: Federal Reserve System)

Central bank assets

As of February 2010, total assets of the Federal Reserve (the central bank of the United States) stood at USD 2,280,952 million. These assets mainly included agency mortgage-backed securities, which amounted to USD 1,025,541 million.

(Source: Federal Reserve System)

Consumer price index (CPI)

In 2009, the United States reported a composite CPI of 214.53, where used cars and trucks were the largest contributors.

(Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, BLS News Release)

(Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Producer price index (PPI)

In 2010, the average annual PPI for finished goods was 179.93 points, for intermediate materials it was 183.21 points and for crude materials it was 211.79 points.

(Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

(Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Interest rates

During 2010, the average interest rate on certificates of deposit (CDs) in the secondary markets was 0.24% for 1 month maturity period, 0.31% for 3 months and 0.44% for 6 months.

(Source: Federal Reserve)

(Source: Federal Reserve)

Interest rates on loans to prime customers in 2010 was 3.25%, unchanged from the previous year.

(Source: Federal Reserve)

Money stock measures

The United States classifies its money stock into M1 and M2.

M1 includes:

• Currency outside the U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve Banks, and the vaults of depository institutions
• Traveler's checks of non-bank issuers
• Demand deposits at commercial banks (excluding amounts held by depository institutions, U.S. government, foreign banks and official institutions)
• Other checkable deposits
• Credit union share draft accounts
• Demand deposits at thrift institutions

M2 includes all items of M1 and:

• Savings deposits (including money market deposit accounts)
• Small-denomination time deposits (time deposits in amounts of less than USD 100,000)
• Balances in retail money market mutual funds less IRA and Keogh balances at money market mutual funds.

(Source: Federal Reserve System)

(Source: Federal Reserve System)

Official exchange rate

The average exchange rate for USD during the 2000 to 2009 period was 1.70 for sterling (GBP), 1.19 for euro and 0.70 for australian dollars (AUD).

Following are the average exchange rates (yearly) from 2000 to 2009:

(Source: Federal Reserve System)

Government finances

Total revenue and expenditure

In 2009, total Government revenue stood at USD 3,726.9 billion, falling by 8.52% from 2008.  Furthermore, the total Government expenditures increased by 5.51% up to USD 4,998.8 billion.

(Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis)

(Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis)

Government Revenue Distribution (2009)

(Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis)

Public sector borrowing requirement / fiscal balance

In 2009, the total fiscal balance accounted for a deficit of USD 1,271.9 billion. Furthermore, the account has reported continuous losses since 2002.

(Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis)

Tax revenue

In 2009, total tax revenue was reported at USD 2,409.3 billion, which includes personal current taxes, taxes on production and imports, taxes on corporate income, and taxes from the rest of the world. Additonally, compared to 2008, it declined by 13.34%.

(Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis)

Balance of payment (BoP)

 (Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis)

Labour force

The total labour force was 238.72 million in November 2010, increasing 0.19% from November 2009.

 (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Wage structure

Effective from July 24, 2009, minimum wage for non-exempt employees is USD 7.25 per hour, as compared to USD 6.55 per hour in 2008.

Following are mean hourly wages on basis of type of occupation:

(Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Employment cost index (ECI)

As of September 2010, ECI for state & local government workers was 115.4, for civilian workers it was 112.8, and for private industry workers it was 112.1.

(Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Level of unionisation

In 2009, 12.3% of workers were unionized, decreasing slightly from 12.4% in 2008. The highest level of unionisation was seen at 38.1% in education and related industry.Furthermore, the state of New York recorded 25.2% unionisation, highest among all states.

Union membership was higher among male workers at 13.3%, in comparison to female workers at 11.3%.

(Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

(Source: GPO Access)

Economic freedom

The US is ranked 8^th at the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom, with a score of78.0 (out of 100), indicating a fall of 2.7 points from the previous year due to a decline in financial freedom, monetary freedom and property rights.

(Source: Heritage.org)

Corruption perception

The US is ranked 22^nd on the World’s Corruption Perception Index 2010, scoring a 7.1 (out of 10).

(Source: transperancy.org)

Freedom of information

The US is ranked 20^th on the Press Freedom Index 2010.

(Source: Rsf.org)

Judicial system

The judicial system of the country consists of the:

• Supreme Court: comprised of a Chief Justice (present: John G. Roberts, Jr.) and eight Associate Justices, and is the supreme jurisdiction authority
• Lower courts: shares a part of jurisdiction with Supreme Court. It is divided into 12 judicial courts at different geographical locations, each consisting of one circuit justice and supporting circuit judges
• Special courts:comprised of the United States Court of Federal Claims, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the United States Tax Court, and the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, as well as other legislative courts. These courts are under the direct and independent regulation of Congress
• Administrative office of courts: carries out administrative activities of the courts by maintaing the statistical data and is in charge of the allocation & distribution of funds for the entire judicial system
• Federal Judicial Center:overlooks research and education for the judicial system.
• United States Sentencing Commission: comprises of 7 voting members, who are appointed by the president. Under chairmanship of one of the voting members, this commission develops sentencing guidelines & policies and other related activities for the entire federal court system

(Source: GPO Access)

The United States is the 3^rd largest populated country in the world, with an estimated population of 310,232,863 as of July 2010, and an average annual growth rate of 0.97%.

The female population accounts for 50.78% of the total population.

(Source: CIA)

The net migration rate for 2010 stood at 4.25 migrants per 1,000 people.

Around 82% of people reside in urban areas, growing at a rate of 1.3% from 2005 to 2010.

(Source: CIA)

Ethnic environment

(Source: CIA)

The following table reflects a classification of people according to their religion:

(Source: CIA)

Birth and death rate

In 2010, the birth rate was reported at 13.8 births per 1,000 of population, whereas the death rate was 8.38. Heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidental injuries and diabetes are the major reasons for death. The country ranks 151^st and 91^st in birth and death rates, respectively.

(Source: CIA)

Infant mortality rate

The infant mortality rate was 6.14 per 1,000 live births in 2010, against that of 6.87 per 1,000 live births in 2005. Higher mortality rate was seen in male infants, or 6.81 per 1,000 live births, whereas, it was 5.44 in case of female infants. Furthermore, the mortality rate was highest in the case of Non-Hispanic, Alaska Native and Puerto Rican females.

(Source: CIA)

Life expectancy

In 2010, life expectancy was 75.8 years for males and 80.8 for females, showing an increase of 8.7 years and 6.1 years for males and females, respectively, from 1970.

(Source: CIA)

(Source: CIA)

Human development index (HDI)

The US is ranked 4^th on HDI based on factors like health, education, income, inequality, poverty, and gender, as prepared by the United Nations Development Programme.

(Source: HDR UNDP)

Education

As of 2009, the total enrollment in elementary and secondary schools was 62.8 million, and in post-secondary institutions it was 22.4 million. Furthermore, the United States employed 4.7 million teachers and faculties in that year.

(Source: NCES,)

Healthcare

expenditure on healthcare amounted to USD 2,486,293 million in 2009, increasing by 3.97% over the previous year. Main reasons for this increase were economic inflation, medical inflation and an increase in the overall population.

(Source: CMS)

Transport

In 2008, the United States reported total highway length of 4,042,778 miles, indicating 10,652 miles of new road over the previous year. Besides a large rail network of Class I and Amtrak, the US also has an infrastructure for transit rails, which includes 7,261 miles of commuter rail, 1,623 miles of heavy rail and 1,397 miles of light rail. 

(Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics)

Ports

There are around 360 commercially-operated ports, out of which, 149 are public-owned ports.

The following table shows the top 30 ports according to the total trade (in tonnes of cargo volume):

(Source: American Association of Port Authorities)

Airports

In 2008, there were 19,930 airports, of which 560 are certificated. These include civil and jointly used airports, or civil-military airports, heliports, short takeoff and landing (STOL) ports and seaplane bases. 5,202 airports are open for public use whereas, 14,451 airports were reserved for private purpose.

The following table shows the top 10 international airports according to the number of passengers in 2009:

In domestic air travel, Atlanta (GA) airport ranks 1st with a total 37,812,901 passengers during 2009.

(Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics)

Telecommunications

As on March 2010, out of the total 118.3 million households, about 96% had a telephone connection.

Total wireless mobile subscribers at the end of 2008 were 270.33 million, growing at about 12.01% between 2000 and 2008.

In December 2009, there were a total of 80.66 million fixed broadband subscribers, and 52.49 million mobile wireless broadband subscribers.

(Source: FCC)