Profile of the United States

WASHINGTON, Oct 31 (AFP) - Profile of the United States, where voters will choose on Tuesday between President George W. Bush and Democratic rival John Kerry:

GEOGRAPHY
World's third largest country by size, slightly larger than China. Borders Canada in the north and Mexico in the south and spans the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It has 50 states, the nation's capital, Washington DC, and several territories, including the commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

POPULATION
294.6 million. 205.8 million Americans of voting age.

LARGEST MINORITY GROUPS
About 40 million Hispanics (13 percent of the population), 37 million African Americans (12.7 percent), 13.1 million Asians and Pacific islanders.

LIFE EXPECTANCY
77.3 years old.

INFANT MORTALITY RATE
6.6 deaths per 1,000 births.

CAPITAL
Washington DC

LARGEST CITIES
New York, eight million people; Los Angeles, 3.8 million; Chicago, 2.9 million.

LANGUAGES
English, Spanish.

RELIGION
Protestants (52 percent), Catholics (25 percent), Muslims (two percent), Jews (1.7 percent).

HISTORY
Declared independence from Britain on July 4, 1776. Adopted Constitution in 1787. In the 1861-1865 Civil War, the industrial North battled the rural and pro-slavery southern states that seceded from the Union. The United States took part in World War I in 1917. The stock market crash of 1929 sparked the Great Depression of the 1930s. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in 1941, the United States entered World War II. The United States went to war in Korea from 1950-1953 and in Vietnam from 1961-1973 to battle communist forces. US-led forces drove Iraq out of Kuwait in 1991. On September 11, 2001, hijacked airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people and leading to the war in Afghanistan in October 2001. US-led forces invaded Iraq in March 2003, toppling Saddam Hussein's regime.

GOVERNMENT
Federal republic with three branches of government: the executive (White House), legislative (Congress) and judicial (courts). Congress is divided into two chambers. The House of Representatives with 435 members and the Senate with 100 members.

PRESIDENT
George W. Bush, a 58-year-old Republican and son of former president George H.W. Bush (1989-1993), was elected in 2000 as the nation's 43rd president. He is the commander-in-chief of the military. Dick Cheney is the vice president. The president and vice president are elected to a four-year term and can only serve two terms.

MAIN POLITICAL PARTIES
Republican and Democratic.

ECONOMY
World's strongest economy with 3.3 percent growth in the second quarter of 2004 after 4.5 percent growth in the first quarter. Per capita income of 37,800 dollars in 2003. An unemployment rate of 5.4 percent in August. A record 413-billion-dollar deficit in fiscal 2004.

MILITARY
1.4 million active soldiers, plus 1.2 million troops in the Reserves and National Guard. About 140,000 soldiers deployed in Iraq. The military's budget for 2004 totaled 401 billion dollars.