United States

!Flag of the United States) The United States of America is a federal presidential constitutional republic. It is founded on principles of individual liberty, limited government, separation of powers, and popular sovereignty, as articulated in its 1787 Constitution and the Bill of Rights (ratified 1791).[](https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs) Comprising 50 states, the federal District of Columbia, five major inhabited territories, and numerous smaller insular possessions, it occupies a land area of 3,532,316 square miles, often ranked as the world's third- or fourth-largest country by total area depending on methodologies for including inland, coastal, and territorial waters.[](https://data.census.gov/profile) Primarily located in North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, it borders Canada and Mexico and has extensive coastlines on the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans. The United States had a population of approximately 342.9 million as of November 2025.[](https://www.census.gov/popclock/)

TheUnited States of America(USA), also known as theUnited States(U.S.) orAmerica, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous states border Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, with the semi-exclave of Alaska in the northwest and the archipelago of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The United States also asserts sovereignty over five major island territories and various uninhabited islands in Oceania and the Caribbean. It is a megadiverse country, with the world's third-largest land area and third-largest population, exceeding 340 million.