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% forest and woodland: 29% other: 25%
Irrigated land: 181,020 sq km (1989 est.)
Environment:
current issues: air pollution resulting in acid rain in both the US
and Canada; the US is the largest single emitter of carbon dioxide
from the burning of fossil fuels; water pollution from runoff of
pesticides and fertilizers; very limited natural fresh water resources
in much of the western part of the country require careful management;
desertification
natural hazards: tsunamis, volcanoes, and earthquake activity around
Pacific Basin; hurricanes along the Atlantic coast; tornadoes in the
midwest; mudslides in California; forest fires in the west; flooding;
permafrost in northern Alaska is a major impediment to development
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air
Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Antarctic Treaty, Climate Change,
Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Marine
Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship
Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands, Whaling; signed, but not
ratified - Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Biodiversity, Desertification,
Hazardous Wastes, Tropical Timber 94
Note: world's fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and China)
@United States:People
Population: 263,814,032 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 22% (female 28,391,451; male 29,845,630)
15-64 years: 65% (female 86,454,415; male 85,474,002)
65 years and over: 13% (female 19,949,978; male 13,698,559) (July 1995
est.)
Population growth rate: 1.02% (1995 est.)
Birth rate: 15.25 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)