Demographics of the United States and Americans

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of the United States and Americans

Largest ancestry groups by county, 2000.

Race/Ethnicity (2010)[244]
White	72.4%
Black American	12.6%
Asian	4.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native	0.9%
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander	0.2%
Other	6.2%
Two or more races	2.9%
Hispanic/Latino (of any race)	16.3%

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the country's population now to be 315,250,000,^[2] including an estimated 11.2 million illegal aliens.^[245] The U.S. population almost quadrupled during the 20th century, from about 76 million in 1900.^[246] The third most populous nation in the world, after China andIndia, the United States is the only major industrialized nation in which large population increases are projected.^[247]

With a birth rate of 13 per 1,000, 35% below the world average, its population growth rate is positive at 0.9%, significantly higher than those of many developed nations.^[248] In fiscal year 2011, over one million immigrants (most of whom entered throughfamily reunification) were granted legal residence.^[249] Mexico has been the leading source of new residents for over two decades; since 1998, China, India, and the Philippines have been in the top four sending countries every year.^[250] 9 million Americans identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual ortransgender, making up four percent of the population.^[251] A 2010 survey found that seven percent of men and eight percent of women identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual.^[252]

The United States has a very diverse population—thirty-one ancestry groups have more than one million members.^[253] White Americans are the largest racial group; German Americans, Irish Americans, and English Americans constitute three of the country's four largest ancestry groups.^[253] Black Americans are the nation's largest racial minority and third largest ancestry group.^[253] Asian Americans are the country's second largest racial minority; the two largest Asian American ethnic groups are Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans.^[253]

In 2010, the U.S. population included an estimated 5.2 million people with some American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry (2.9 million exclusively of such ancestry) and 1.2 million with some native Hawaiian or Pacific island ancestry (0.5 million exclusively).^[254] The census counted more than 19 million people of "Some Other Race" who were "unable to identify with any" of its five official race categories in 2010.^[254]

The population growth of Hispanic and Latino Americans (the terms are officially interchangeable) is a major demographic trend. The 50.5 million Americans of Hispanic descent^[254] are identified as sharing a distinct "ethnicity" by the Census Bureau; 64% of Hispanic Americans are of Mexican descent.^[255] Between 2000 and 2010, the country's Hispanic population increased 43% while the non-Hispanic population rose just 4.9%.^[244] Much of this growth is from immigration; as of 2007, 12.6% of the U.S. population was foreign-born, with 54% of that figure born in Latin America.^[256]

Fertility is also a factor; as of 2010 the average Hispanic (of any race) woman gave birth to 2.35 children in her lifetime, compared to 1.97 for non-Hispanic black women and 1.79 for non-Hispanic white women (both below the replacement rate of 2.1).^[257] Minorities (as defined by the Census Bureau as all those beside non-Hispanic, non-multiracial whites) constituted 36.3% of the population in 2010,^[258] and over 50% of children under age one,^[259] and are projected to constitute the majority by 2042.^[260] This contradicts the report by the National Vital Statistics Reports, based on the U.S. census data, which concludes that, 54% (2,162,406 out of 3,999,386 in 2010) of births were non-Hispanic white.^[257]

About 82% of Americans live in urban areas (including suburbs);^[1] about half of those reside in cities with populations over 50,000.^[261]In 2008, 273 incorporated places had populations over 100,000, nine cities had more than one million residents, and four global citieshad over two million (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston).^[262]

There are fifty-two metropolitan areas with populations greater than one million.^[263] Of the fifty fastest-growing metro areas, forty-seven are in the West or South.^[264] The metro areas of Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and Phoenix all grew by more than a million people between 2000 and 2008.^[263]

Leading population centers					view   talk   edit
Rank	Core city	Metro area pop.[265]	Metropolitan Statistical Area	Region[266]	New York City Los Angeles Chicago
1	New York	19,015,900	New York–Northern New Jersey–Long Island, NY–NJ–PA MSA	Northeast
2	Los Angeles	12,944,801	Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana, CA MSA	West
3	Chicago	9,504,753	Chicago–Joliet–Naperville, IL–IN–WI MSA	Midwest
4	Dallas	6,526,548	Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, TX MSA	South
5	Houston	6,086,538	Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown, TX MSA	South
6	Philadelphia	5,992,414	Philadelphia–Camden–Wilmington, PA–NJ–DE–MD MSA	Northeast
7	Washington, D.C.	5,703,948	Washington, DC–VA–MD–WV MSA	South
8	Miami	5,670,125	Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach, FL MSA	South
9	Atlanta	5,359,205	Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Marietta, GA MSA	South
10	Boston	4,591,112	Boston–Cambridge–Quincy, MA–NH MSA	Northeast
based on the 2011 U.S. Population Estimate

Law enforcement in the United States and Crime in the United States

Crime and law enforcement

Main articles: Law enforcement in the United States and Crime in the United States

See also: Law of the United States, Incarceration in the United States, Capital punishment in the United States, and Second Amendment to the United States Constitution

Law enforcement in the U.S. is maintained primarily by local police departments. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is the largest in the country.^[230]

Law enforcement in the United States is primarily the responsibility of local police andsheriff's departments, with state police providing broader services. Federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Marshals Service have specialized duties.^[231] At the federal level and in almost every state, jurisprudence operates on acommon law system.

State courts conduct most criminal trials; federal courts handle certain designated crimes as well as certain appeals from the state criminal courts. Federal law prohibits a variety of drugs, although states sometimes pass laws in conflict with federal regulations. The smoking age is generally 18, and the drinking age is generally 21.

Among developed nations, the United States has above-average levels of violent crime and particularly high levels of gun violence and homicide. ^[232] There were 4.7 murders per 100,000 persons in 2011, 14.5% fewer than in 2000 (5.5), and 19.0% fewer since a recent peak of 5.8 in 2006. ^[233] [234] Gun ownership rights are the subject of contentious political debate.

The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate^[235] and total prison population^[236] in the world. At the start of 2008, more than 2.3 million people were incarcerated, more than one in every 100 adults.^[237] The current rate is about seven times the 1980 figure,^[238] and over three times the figure in Poland, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country with the next highest rate.^[239] African American males are jailed at about six times the rate of white males and three times the rate of Hispanic males.^[235] The country's high rate of incarceration is largely due to sentencing and drug policies.^[235][240]

Capital punishment is sanctioned in the United States for certain federal and military crimes, and used in thirty-three states.^[241] No executions took place from 1967 to 1977, owing in part to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down arbitrary imposition of the death penalty. In 1976, that Court ruled that, under appropriate circumstances, capital punishment may constitutionally be imposed; since the decision there have been more than 1,300 executions, a majority of these taking place in three states: Texas, Virginia, and Oklahoma.^[242] Four state legislatures in the modern era have abolished the death penalty, though two of those laws (in New Mexico and Connecticut) were not retroactive. Additionally, state courts in Massachusetts and New York struck down death penalty statutes and their legislatures took no action in response. In 2010, the country had the fifth highest number of executions in the world, following China, Iran, North Korea, and Yemen.^[243]

Health care in the United States, Health care reform in the United States, and Health insurance in the United States

Health

See also: Health care in the United States, Health care reform in the United States, and Health insurance in the United States

The Texas Medical Center in Houston, the world's largest medical center^[212]

The United States life expectancy of 78.4 years at birth ranks it 50th among 221 nations.^[213] Increasing obesity in the United States and health improvements elsewhere have contributed to lowering the country's rank in life expectancy from 1987, when it was 11th in the world.^[214] Obesity rates in the United States are among thehighest in the world.^[215] Approximately one-third of the adult population is obese and an additional third is overweight;^[216] the obesity rate, the highest in the industrialized world, has more than doubled in the last quarter-century.^[217] Obesity-related type 2 diabetes is considered epidemic by health care professionals.^[218] The infant mortality rate of 6.06 per thousand places the United States 176th out of 222 countries.^[219]

The US is a global leader in medical innovation. America solely developed or contributed significantly to 9 of the top 10 most important medical innovations since 1975 as ranked by a 2001 poll of physicians, while the EU and Switzerland together contributed to five. Since 1966 Americans have received more Nobel Prizes in Medicinethan the rest of the world combined. From 1989 to 2002 four times more money was invested in private biotechnology companies in America than in Europe.^[220][221]

The U.S. health care system far outspends any other nation's, measured in both per capita spending and percentage of GDP.^[222]Health care coverage in the United States is a combination of public and private efforts, and is not universal as in all other developed countries. In 2004, private insurance paid for 36% of personal health expenditures, private out-of-pocket payments covered 15%, and federal, state, and local governments paid for 44%.^[223]

In 2005, 46.6 million Americans, 15.9% of the population, were uninsured, 5.4 million more than in 2001. The main cause of this rise is the drop in the number of Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance.^[224] The subject of uninsured and underinsured Americans is a major political issue.^[225][226] In 2006, Massachusetts became the first state to mandate universal health insurance.^[227]Federal legislation passed in early 2010 would ostensibly create a near-universal health insurance system around the country by 2014, though the bill and its ultimate impact are issues of controversy.^[228][229]