Compare Countries
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Introduction
| Field |
United States |
China |
|---|---|---|
| Background | Thirteen of Britain's American colonies broke with the mother country in 1776 and were recognized as the new nation of the United States of America following the Treaty of Paris in 1783. During the 19th and 20th centuries, 37 new states were added as the nation expanded across the North American con... | China's historical civilization dates to at least the 13th century B.C., first under the Shang (to 1046 B.C.) and then the Zhou (1046-221 B.C.) dynasties. The imperial era of China began in 221 B.C. under the Qin Dynasty and lasted until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. During this period, Chin... |
Geography
| Field |
United States |
China |
|---|---|---|
| Location | North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico | Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam |
| Area | 9,833,517 sq km | 9,596,960 sq km |
| Climate | mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, 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 t... | extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north |
| 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 | mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east |
| Natural resources | coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, rare earth elements, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, petroleum, natural gas, timber, arable land | coal, iron ore, helium, petroleum, natural gas, arsenic, bismuth, cobalt, cadmium, ferrosilicon, gallium, germanium, hafnium, indium, lithium, mercury, tantalum, tellurium, tin, titanium, tungsten, antimony, manganese, magnesium, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, ... |
| Elevation | note: Denali is one of the most striking features on the entire planet; at 20,310 feet, it is the crowning peak of the Alaska Range and the highest mountain on North America; it towers three and one-half vertical miles above its base, making it a mile taller from base to summit than Mt. Everest; Den... | Mount Everest (highest peak in Asia and highest point on earth above sea level) 8,849 m |
People and Society
| Field |
United States |
China |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 341,963,408 | 1,416,043,270 |
| Languages | English only 78.2%, Spanish 13.4%, Chinese 1.1%, other 7.3% (2017 est.) | Standard Chinese or Mandarin (official; Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages; note - Zhuang is official in Guangxi Zhuang, Yue is official in Guangdong, Mongolian is o... |
| Religions | Protestant 46.5%, Roman Catholic 20.8%, Jewish 1.9%, Church of Jesus Christ 1.6%, other Christian 0.9%, Muslim 0.9%, Jehovah's Witness 0.8%, Buddhist 0.7%, Hindu 0.7%, other 1.8%, unaffiliated 22.8%, don't know/refused 0.6% (2014 est.) | folk religion 21.9%, Buddhist 18.2%, Christian 5.1%, Muslim 1.8%, Hindu < 0.1%, Jewish < 0.1%, other 0.7% (includes Daoist (Taoist)), unaffiliated 52.1% (2021 est.) |
| Age structure | 18.1% (male 31,618,532/female 30,254,223) | 16.3% (male 122,644,111/female 107,926,176) |
| Median age | 38.9 years (2022 est.) | 40.2 years (2024 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 0.67% (2024 est.) | 0.23% (2024 est.) |
| Birth rate | 12.2 births/1,000 population (2024 est.) | 10.2 births/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
| Death rate | 8.5 deaths/1,000 population (2024 est.) | 7.7 deaths/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth | 80.9 years (2024 est.) | 78.7 years (2024 est.) |
| Literacy | NA | 96.8% |
Government
| Field |
United States |
China |
|---|---|---|
| Government type | constitutional federal republic | communist party-led state |
| Capital | Washington, DC | Beijing |
| Independence | 4 July 1776 (declared independence from Great Britain); 3 September 1783 (recognized by Great Britain) | 1 October 1949 (People's Republic of China established); notable earlier dates: 221 B.C. (unification under the Qin Dynasty); 1 January 1912 (Qing Dynasty replaced by the Republic of China) |
| Constitution | previous 1781 (Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union); latest drafted July - September 1787, submitted to the Congress of the Confederation 20 September 1787, submitted for states' ratification 28 September 1787, ratification completed by nine of the 13 states 21 June 1788, effective 4 March... | several previous; latest promulgated 4 December 1982 |
| Legal system | common law system based on English common law at the federal level; state legal systems based on common law, except Louisiana, where state law is based on Napoleonic civil code; judicial review of legislative acts | civil law influenced by Soviet and continental European civil law systems; legislature retains power to interpret statutes; note - on 28 May 2020, the National People's Congress adopted the PRC Civil Code, which codifies personal relations and property relations |
Economy
| Field |
United States |
China |
|---|---|---|
| GDP (purchasing power parity) | — | — |
| GDP - per capita (PPP) | — | — |
| GDP - real growth rate | — | — |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | note: annual % change based on consumer prices | note: annual % change based on consumer prices |
| Unemployment rate | note: % of labor force seeking employment | note: % of labor force seeking employment |
| Industries | highly diversified, world leading, high-technology innovator, second-largest industrial output in the world; petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining | world leader in gross value of industrial output; mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals, coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizer; consumer products (including footwear, toys, and electronics); food processing; tra... |
| Agriculture - products | — | — |
| Exports | note: balance of payments - exports of goods and services in current dollars | note: balance of payments - exports of goods and services in current dollars |
| Imports | note: balance of payments - imports of goods and services in current dollars | note: balance of payments - imports of goods and services in current dollars |
| Public debt | note: central government debt as a % of GDP | note: official data; data cover both central and local government debt, including debt officially recognized by China's National Audit Office report in 2011; data exclude policy bank bonds, Ministry of Railway debt, and China Asset Management Company debt |
Communications
| Field |
United States |
China |
|---|---|---|
| Telephones - mobile cellular | 372.682 million (2022 est.) | 1.781 billion (2022 est.) |
| Internet users | 312.8 million (2021 est.) | 1.022 billion (2021 est.) |
Military and Security
| Field |
United States |
China |
|---|---|---|
| Military expenditures | 3.4% of GDP (2024 est.) | 1.5% of GDP (2023 est.) |
| Military and security forces | United States Armed Forces (aka US Military): US Army (USA), US Navy (USN; includes US Marine Corps or USMC), US Air Force (USAF), US Space Force (USSF); US Coast Guard (USCG); National Guard (Army National Guard and Air National Guard) (2024) | People's Liberation Army (PLA): Ground Forces or People's Liberation Army Army (PLAA), Navy (PLAN, includes Marine Corps (PLANMC)), Air Force (PLAAF), Rocket Force (PLARF), Aerospace Force, Cyberspace Force, Information Support Force, Joint Logistics Support Force, People's Armed Police (PAP, includ... |
Transportation
| Field |
United States |
China |
|---|---|---|
| Airports | 15,873 (2024) | 531 (2024) |
| Railways | 293,564.2 km (2014) | 150,000 km (2021) 1.435-m gauge (100,000 km electrified); 104,0000 traditional, 40,000 high-speed |
| Roadways | 6,586,610 km | 5.2 million km (2020) |