Country

United States

China Leader

President: Barack Obama

President : Xi Jinping Population 318,892,103

1,355,692,576

Life Expectancy 79.560 years

75.150 years

Capital City Washington, DC

Beijing

Largest city New York City (population: 8,008,280) Shanghai (population: 14,608,500) Human Development Index 0.95

0.762

GDP per capita $52,800 US

$9,800 US

Literacy Rate 99%

90.9%

Corruption Perception Index 7.3

3.6

Percentage of Women in Parliament 16.6%

21.3%

Wealthiest Citizens William Gates III ($40.0bn US)

Liu Yongxing ($3.0bn US)

Unemployment Rate 7.300%

4.100%

Death Penalty Legal

Legal

Political System Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition

Communist state

Independence date 4 July 1776 (from Great Britain)

221 BC (unification under the Qin or Ch'in Dynasty); 1 January 1912 (Qing or Ch'ing Dynasty replaced by the Republic of China); 1 October 1949 (People's Republic of China established)

Religions Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)

Daoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Christian 3%-4%, Muslim 1%-2%

note: officially atheist (2002 est.)

Languages English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census)

note: Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii

Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry)

Exports agricultural products (soybeans, fruit, corn) 9.2%, industrial supplies (organic chemicals) 26.8%, capital goods (transistors, aircraft, motor vehicle parts, computers, telecommunications equipment) 49.0%, consumer goods (automobiles, medicines) 15.0% (2003)

electrical and other machinery, including data processing equipment, apparel, textile, iron and steel, optical and medical equipment

External Debt $15,680,000,000,000 $

$863,200,000,000 US

Exchange Rate

Renminbi yuan (RMB) per US dollar - 6.9385 (2008 est.), 7.61 (2007), 7.97 (2006), 8.1943 (2005), 8.2768 (2004)

Military Budget as percentage of GDP 4.350%

1.990%

Beijing Olympics Medal Count 110

100

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 9,826,675 km sq

9,596,960 km sq

Coastline 19,924 km

14,500 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 the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains

extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north

