Interesting facts about the USA

The United States of America is a highly developed and civilized country that today has been considered the world’s only real superpower since the fall of the British Empire and the Soviet Union. Let’s discover some interesting facts about this great nation together!

1. Every year, more than 75 million people visit the United States, making it one of the most visited countries in the world. To put this number in perspective, it’s roughly equal to the entire population of Germany, the most populous country in the European Union.
2. The iconic USA flag has been officially modified 27 times since its creation in 1777. Each time a new state entered the Union, a star was added to the blue field. The last state to join the Union was Hawaii in 1959.
3. At one point in U.S. history, a $10,000 bill was in circulation. Issued in 1934 during the Great Depression, it was never intended for general public use — it was primarily used for large financial transactions between Federal Reserve Banks. Back then, $10,000 could buy a house, several new cars, and pay for multiple college educations.

4. The United States of America is the world’s fourth-largest country by total area and has six time zones. Despite its vast size, the U.S. shares land borders with only two countries: Canada and Mexico.
5. Including all U.S. territories such as Guam, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico, the United States spans a total of 11 time zones. The earliest “American morning” begins in Guam, while the latest “American evening” takes place in American Samoa — a full 24 hours apart!
6. Alaska is the largest state in the USA, with a land area larger than the combined size of the 22 smallest states. Texas, the second-largest state, is so vast that it could fit the entire country of France within its borders — and still have room to spare.
7. Fun fact: Americans managed to acquire Alaska from Russia for only $7.2 million in gold. They obtained an area of 1,119,000 square kilometers, which amounts to just $4.74 per square kilometer. Less than thirty years later, the Klondike Gold Rush began here, during which about a thousand tons of gold were mined.

8. Few people know that there was a Ukrainian involved in one of the most famous photos, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. One of the six Marines in the photograph — Sergeant Michael Strank — was born into a family of Ukrainian-Lemko immigrants. As someone from Ukraine, this fact means a lot to me.
9. Mount Rushmore, located in South Dakota, features the carved faces of four U.S. presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. The monument took 14 years to complete, from 1927 to 1941.
10. The United States has the strongest military in the world, which isn’t surprising given that in 2025, around $842 billion is allocated to defense funding.
11. In 1776, the United States had a population of only 2.5 million people. By 2025, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that this number had grown to over 341 million.
12. In 2023, Americans spent over $147 billion on pets — more than twice the size of Germany’s defense budget for the same year..

13. The U.S. Navy has 11 aircraft carriers, making it the largest aircraft carrier fleet in the world. These vessels, belonging to the Nimitz and Gerald R. Ford classes, are nuclear-powered supercarriers capable of carrying up to 90 aircraft each. In comparison, most other countries operate only one or two aircraft carriers.
14. It’s no secret that over a third of adults in the USA are obese. One reason is the love of fast food — for example, every second, 350 slices of pizza are eaten, and over the course of a year, the total area of pizza consumed is roughly the size of 75 American football fields.
15. The United States has never had an official language at the federal level. The U.S. Constitution does not designate any official language, although English is considered the de facto national language and is widely used in government and daily life.