U.S. and them

by on June 17th, 2004

The CIA World Factbook for 2004 just came out today, and a side-by-side comparison of the U.S. and France is worth a look:

Population: 293,027,571 v. 60,424,213 [Ok, we’re bigger. Duh.]

Age structure:

0-14 years: 20.8%

15-64 years: 66.9%

65 years and over: 12.4%

v.

0-14 years: 18.5%

15-64 years: 65.1%

65 years and over: 16.4% [We’re proportionately younger.]

Population growth rate: 0.92% v. 0.39% [We’re also growing a lot faster.]

Death rate: 8.34 deaths/1,000 population v. 9.06 deaths/1,000 population [And dying more slowly. What was that about obese Americans killing themselves with fatty foods?]

Sex ratio (total population): 0.97 male(s)/female v. 0.95 male(s)/female [We’re more manly too.]

Infant mortality rate: 6.63 deaths/1,000 live births v. 4.31 deaths/1,000 live births [Ah, but sadly their infants are more likely to live.]

Total fertility rate: 2.07 children born/woman v. 1.85 children born/woman [But then we have more kids.]

Life expectancy at birth: 77.43 years v. 79.44 years [They live longer.]

GDP – real growth rate: 3.1% v. 0.1% [Snarf! Bwahahahaha!]

GDP – per capita: $37,800 v. $27,500 [Oh, and we continue to be the most productive nation in the world per capita.]

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.1% v. 2% [We have slightly higher inflation.]

Population below poverty line: 12% v. 6.5% [But those numbers are from 2003 in the U.S. and 2000 in France. That throws things off in light of…]

Unemployment rate: 6.2% v. 9.6% [France’s 2003 unemployment rate, which is not only higher than ours but also higher than their percentage below the poverty line.]

Industrial production growth rate: -1% v. 1.1% [France has a higher industrial growth rate, but this squares with the relatively low percentage of our economy that relies on manufacturing anymore.]

Economic aid – donor: $6.9 billion v. $5.4 billion [We give more to other nations. And those are 1997 numbers for us while France’s numbers are from 2002.]

Military expenditures – percent of GDP: 3.9% v. 2.6% [We spend more defending ourselves and our allies.]

I.J. Reilly