The Survey is published on the responsibility of the Economic and Development Review Committee, which is charged with the examination of the economic situation of member countries. The economic situation and policies of the United States were reviewed by the Committee on 18 May 2018. The draft was revised in the light of the discussion and given final approval as the agreed report of the whole Committee on 31 May 2018.

This Survey was prepared in the Economics Department by Douglas Sutherland under the supervision of Patrick Lenain. Damien Azzopardi provided the statistical research assistance and Stephanie Henry provided editorial support. The Survey also benefited from contributions by Julien Daubanes, Ola Eltoukhi, Octavio Escobar, Fozan Fareed, Aimi Abdul Ghani, Stephanie Guichard, Nirosha Varghese and Pierre-Yves Yanni.

The previous Survey of the United States was issued in June 2016.

Information on other Surveys and how surveys are prepared is available at www.oecd.org/surveys.

    
Basic statistics of United States
(Data refer to 2017 or latest available. Numbers in parentheses refer to the OECD average)*

LAND, PEOPLE AND ELECTORAL CYCLE

Population (million)

323.13

Population density per km²

35.3

(37.5)

Under 15 (%)

19.0

(18.0)

Life expectancy (years)

78.8

(80.7)

Over 65 (%)

15.0

(16.5)

Men

76.3

(78.1)

Foreign-born (%)

13.5

Women

81.2

(83.3)

Latest 5-year average growth (%)

0.7

(0.6)

Latest general election

November 2016

ECONOMY

Gross domestic product (GDP)

Value added shares (%)

In current prices (billion USD)

19,390.6

Primary sector

0.9

(2.4)

Latest 5-year average real growth (%)

2.2

(2.1)

Industry including construction

19.1

(26.7)

Per capita (000 USD PPP)

59.5

(43.8)

Services

80.0

(70.9)

GENERAL GOVERNMENT

Per cent of GDP

Expenditure

37.7

(40.6)

Gross financial debt

105.4

(110.2)

Revenue

34.1

(37.7)

Net financial debt

80.3

(71.2)

EXTERNAL ACCOUNTS

Exchange rate EUR per USD

0.9

Main exports (% of total merchandise exports)

PPP exchange rate (USA = 1)

1.0

Machinery and transport equipment

34.9

In per cent of GDP

Chemicals and related products, n.e.s.

13.6

Exports of goods and services

12.1

(29.1)

Commodities and transactions, n.e.s.

12.5

Imports of goods and services

15.0

(28.8)

Main imports (% of total merchandise imports)

Current account balance

-2.40

(0.34)

Machinery and transport equipment

43.2

Net international investment position

-40.5

Miscellaneous manufactured articles

16.9

Manufactured goods

10.8

LABOUR MARKET, SKILLS AND INNOVATION

Employment rate for 15-64 year-olds (%)

69.4

(67.0)

Unemployment rate, Labour Force Survey (age 15 and over) (%)

4.9

(6.5)

Men

74.8

(74.8)

Youth (age 15-24, %)

10.4

(12.9)

Women

64.0

(59.4)

Long-term unemployed (1 year and over, %)

0.8

(2.0)

Participation rate for 15-64 year-olds (%)

73.0

(71.7)

Tertiary educational attainment 25-64 year-olds (%)

45.7

(35.7)

Average hours worked per year

1 783

(1763)

Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (% of GDP)

2.7

(2.3)

ENVIRONMENT

Total primary energy supply per capita (toe)

6.7

(4.1)

CO2 emissions from fuel combustion per capita (tonnes)

15.5

(9.2)

Renewables (%)

7.1

(9.7)

Water abstractions per capita (m3 )

1582

(804)

Fine particulate matter concentration (PM2.5, μg/m3)

9.2

(14.9)

Municipal waste per capita (kilogrammes)

738

(523)

SOCIETY

Income inequality (Gini coefficient)

0.39

(0.32)

Education outcomes (PISA score, 2015)

Relative poverty rate (%)

16.8

(11.6)

Reading

497

(493)

Median disposable household income (000 USD PPP)

32.1

(23.0)

Mathematics

470

(490)

Public and private spending (% of GDP)

Science

496

(493)

Health care, current expenditure

17.2

(9.1)

Share of women in parliament (%)

19.2

(28.7)

Pensions

7.0

(9.1)

Net official development assistance (% of GNI)

0.18

(0.39)

Education (primary, secondary, post sec. non tertiary)

3.6

(3.6)

 

Better life index: www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org

* Where the OECD aggregate is not provided in the source database, a simple OECD average of latest available data is calculated where data exist for at least 29 member countries.

Source: Calculations based on data extracted from the databases of the following organisations: OECD, International Energy Agency, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Inter-Parliamentary Union, BEA.

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