query: What is the population of the United States?

title: Demographics of the United States Virgin Islands

text: life expectancy is 79.61 years (76.57 for males, 82.83 for females or girls). As of the 2010 census, the population comprised the following ethnic groups: By place of birth: In terms of religion: As of the 2010 languages spoken in the US Virgin Islands were: Demographics of the United States Virgin Islands This article is about the demographic features of the population of the United States Virgin Islands, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. The population of the US Virgin Island: The median age is 39.2

text: Demographics of the United States Virgin Islands This article is about the demographic features of the population of the United States Virgin Islands, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. The population of the US Virgin Island: The median age is 39.2 years (38.5 for males, 39.7 for females) (2010 census). Census - including armed forces stationed in the area: The infant mortality rate as of 2010 is 7.4 deaths/1,000 live births: 8.14 deaths/1,000 live births for males and 6.63 deaths/1,000 live births for females. At birth,

title: Mean center of the United States population

text: Mean center of the United States population The mean center of the United States population is determined by the United States Census Bureau from the results of each national census. The Bureau defines it as follows: After moving roughly west by south during the 19th century, the shift in the mean center of population during the 20th century was less pronounced, moving west and south. Nearly 79% of the overall southerly movement happened between 1950 and 2000. Given the strong pull of Texas, Florida, and the Western US, the population center would be heading towards and one day entering Oklahoma.

text: The shift projected for the 2010–2020 period would be the shortest centroid movement since the Great Depression intercensal period of 1930–1940. Mean center of the United States population The mean center of the United States population is determined by the United States Census Bureau from the results of each national census. The Bureau defines it as follows: After moving roughly west by south during the 19th century, the shift in the mean center of population during the 20th century was less pronounced, moving west and south. Nearly 79% of the overall southerly movement happened between 1950 and 2000. Given the

title: Illegal immigrant population of the United States

text: primarily the result of the decrease in the number of unauthorized migrants—which make up 48% of the Mexican population in the US in 2014, down from 54% in 2007. Illegal immigrant population of the United States The actual size and the origin of the illegal immigrant population in the United States is uncertain and is difficult to ascertain because of difficulty in accurately counting individuals in this population. Figures from national surveys, administrative data and other sources of information vary widely. The number of illegal immigrants peaked at about 12 million in 2007 and since that time has declined. According

text: Illegal immigrant population of the United States The actual size and the origin of the illegal immigrant population in the United States is uncertain and is difficult to ascertain because of difficulty in accurately counting individuals in this population. Figures from national surveys, administrative data and other sources of information vary widely. The number of illegal immigrants peaked at about 12 million in 2007 and since that time has declined. According to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, the estimated population of illegal immigrants in the U.S. rose rapidly in the 1990s, "from an estimated 3.5 million in 1990 to a

text: peak of 12.2 million in 2007," then dropped sharply during the Great Recession before stabilizing in 2009. Pew estimated the total population to be 11.1 million in 2014, or approximately 3 percent of the U.S. population. This "is in the same ballpark" as figures from the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which estimated that 11.4 million illegal immigrants lived in the United States in January 2012. The estimate and trends are also consistent with figures reported by the Center for Migration Studies, which reported that the U.S. illegal immigrant population fell to 10.9 million by January 2016, the

title: What Is the What

text: What Is the What What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng is a 2006 novel written by Dave Eggers. It is based on the life of Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese child refugee who immigrated to the United States under the Lost Boys of Sudan program. It was a finalist for the National Book Award. As a boy, Achak is separated from his family during the Second Sudanese Civil War when the Arab militia, referred to as "murahaleen" (which is Arabic for the deported), wipes out his Dinka village, Marial Bai. During the assault, he loses sight

title: What Is the What

text: That Happens Will Happen Today". Tom Tykwer plans to adapt the novel into a film. In 2009, the novel received the Prix Médicis étranger in France. What Is the What What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng is a 2006 novel written by Dave Eggers. It is based on the life of Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese child refugee who immigrated to the United States under the Lost Boys of Sudan program. It was a finalist for the National Book Award. As a boy, Achak is separated from his family during the Second Sudanese Civil War when

text: lowest number since 2003. A 2018 PLOSOne study estimated that the illegal immigrant population was in the range of 16 million to 29 million. The "residual method" is widely used to estimate the illegal immigrant population of the US. With this method, the known number of legally documented immigrants to the United States is subtracted from the reported U.S. Census number of self-proclaimed foreign-born people (based on immigration records and adjusted by projections of deaths and out-migration) to obtain the total, illegal immigrant (residual) population. This methodology is used by the US Department of Homeland Security, the Pew Hispanic Center,

text: size unstated) for the 2000 census, a 700,000 net illegal immigrant increase/year assumption and data from the March 2004 Current Population Survey, Pew estimated in 21\016 that there were 10.3 million illegal immigrants in the US in 2004. Assuming the same rate of growth, Pew projected this population reached at least 11 million as of March 2005. These estimates are based on modeling using data from the American Community Survey (ACS) or the Current Population Survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau each year. A 2018 PLOSOne study yielded similar trajectories of the illegal immigrant population, with peak growth

text: 6% from Europe and Canada, and the remaining 4% from the rest of the world. In 2014, the Pew Hispanic Center estimated that the illegal immigrant population from Mexico had reduced to 5.6 million or 49% of the illegal immigrant population. The number of Mexican legal and illegal immigrants in the United States grew quite rapidly over the 35 years between 1970 and 2004; increasing almost 15-fold from about 760,000 in the 1970 Census to more than 11 million in 2004—an average annual growth rate of more than 8 percent, maintained over more than three decades. On average the net

title: Organ donation in the United States prison population

text: Organ donation in the United States prison population Organ donation in the United States prison population is the donation of biological tissues or organs from incarcerated individuals to living recipients in need of a transplantation. Prisons typically do not allow inmates to donate organs to anyone but immediate family members. There is no law against prisoner organ donation; however, the transplant community has discouraged use of prisoner's organs since the early 1990s due to concern over prisons' high-risk environment for infectious diseases. Physicians and ethicists also criticize the idea because a prisoner is not able to consent to the procedure

text: Mexican population, both documented and illegal, living in the United States has grown by about 500,000 per year from 1995 to 2005 with 80 to 85 percent of the growth attributed to unauthorized immigration. There was a net gain of 2,270,000 Mexican immigrants to the US between 1995 and 2000; a net loss of about 20,000 between 2005 and 2010; and a net loss of 140,000 between 2009 and 2014. The total number of Mexicans residing in the US, with and without authorization, was 11.7 million in 2014, down from the peak of 12.8 million in 2007. The drop is

text: there is no official number of immigrants going to the United States or returning to Mexico every year. Since about 2014, most illegal immigrants living in the U.S. have been long-term residents. In 2014, about two-thirds (66%) had been in the U.S. for ten years or more, while just 14% had been in the U.S. for less than five years. Just as the total population of illegal immigrants in the U.S. has declined since 2007, the proportion of illegal immigrants in the workforce has also declined; in 2012, illegal immigrants made up 5.1% of the U.S.'s civilian labor force. Unauthorized

title: Median center of United States population

text: Median center of United States population The median center of U.S. population is determined by the United States Census Bureau from the results of each census. The Bureau defines it to be: As of the 2010 U.S. census, this places roughly 154.4 million Americans living on each side of a longitude line passing through a location in Pike County, Indiana, and the same number living on each side of a latitude line through the same point. During the 20th century the median center of U.S. population moved roughly southwest, from a location in Randolph County, Indiana to a location in

text: Daviess County, Indiana. The majority of this southwest shift happened in the second half of the century, as the center shifted within a narrow circular band between 1900 and 1950 – all within roughly of the 1900 starting point in Randolph County. Median center of United States population The median center of U.S. population is determined by the United States Census Bureau from the results of each census. The Bureau defines it to be: As of the 2010 U.S. census, this places roughly 154.4 million Americans living on each side of a longitude line passing through a location in Pike

title: Demography of the United States

text: Demography of the United States The United States is the third most populous country in the world with an estimated population of 328,953,020 . It is highly urbanized, with 82.3% of the population residing in cities and suburbs. Large urban clusters are spread throughout the eastern half of the United States (particularly the Great Lakes area, northeast, east, and southeast) and the western tier states; mountainous areas, principally the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian chain, deserts in the southwest, the dense boreal forests in the extreme north, and the central prairie states are less densely populated; Alaska's population is concentrated along

title: Demography of the United States

text: about 15% of Americans moved. Most of these, 67%, moved within the same county. Of the 33% who moved beyond local county boundaries, 13% of those moved more than . Lists: Income: Population: Demography of the United States The United States is the third most populous country in the world with an estimated population of 328,953,020 . It is highly urbanized, with 82.3% of the population residing in cities and suburbs. Large urban clusters are spread throughout the eastern half of the United States (particularly the Great Lakes area, northeast, east, and southeast) and the western tier states; mountainous areas,

title: What Is the What

text: Boys"), encountering great danger and terrible hardship along the way to a refugee camp in Ethiopia. Their inflated expectations of safety and relief are shattered by the conditions at the camp. After Ethiopian president Mengistu is overthrown and soldiers open fire on them, they flee to another refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya. Years later he is selected under the Lost Boys of Sudan program to immigrate to the United States. There he encounters a new set of trials. The account runs in parallel to his story of subsequent hardships in the United States. In the preface to the novel, Deng

title: Donkeys in the United States

text: Donkeys in the United States Donkeys in the United States constitute approximately 0.1% of the worldwide donkey population. They were first brought to the New World by Christopher Columbus in the 15th century, and once arriving in Mexico in the 16th century, spread northward into what today is the United States. Some donkeys were bred in the eastern part of the continent from imported European stock. In the gold rush era of 19th century, additional numbers came to the western United States for use as pack animals and working animals in the mining industry. Some sources suggest that there are

title: Crime in the United States

text: the United States omits, and vice versa. However, some countries such as Canada have similar definitions of what constitutes a violent crime, and nearly all countries had the same definition of the characteristics that constitutes a homicide. Overall the total crime rate of the United States is higher than developed countries, specifically Europe, with South American countries and Russia being the exceptions. Some types of reported property crime in the U.S. survey as lower than in Germany or Canada, yet the homicide rate in the United States is substantially higher as is the prison population. The reported U.S. violent crime

title: Demography of the United States

text: its southern coast - with particular emphasis on the city of Anchorage - and Hawaii's is centered on the island of Oahu. California and Texas are the most populous states, as the mean center of U.S. population has consistently shifted westward and southward. New York City is the most populous city in the United States. The United States Census Bureau shows a population increase of 0.75% for the twelve-month period ending in July 2012. Though high by industrialized country standards, this is below the world average annual rate of 1.1%. The total fertility rate in the United States estimated for

title: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

text: under the sea, as well as on the earth. In the United States, the speech is widely taught in history and English classes in high school and college. American studies professor Andrew S. Bibby argues that because many of the editions produced for educational use are abridged, they often misrepresent Douglass's original through omission or editorial focus. The speech has been notably performed or read by important figures, including the following actors: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" is the title now given to a speech by Frederick

title: Culture of the United States

text: coffee to tea, and more than half the adult population drinks at least one cup a day. Marketing by U.S. industries is largely responsible for making orange juice and milk (now often fat-reduced) ubiquitous breakfast beverages. During the 1980s and 1990s, Americans' caloric intake rose 24%; frequent dining at fast food outlets is associated with what health officials call the American "obesity epidemic." Highly sweetened soft drinks are popular; sugared beverages account for 9% of the average American's daily caloric intake. Hamburgers, fries, and doughnuts are considered American foods. Some representative American foods Family arrangements in the United States reflect

text: solution for reducing organ shortages in the U.S. While some have argued that prisoner participation would likely be too low to make a difference, one Arizona program started by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio encourages inmates to voluntarily sign up to donate their heart and other organs. As of mid-2012, over 10,000 inmates had signed up in that one county alone. In the United States, prisoners are not discriminated against as organ recipients and are equally eligible for organ transplants along with the general population. In Estelle v. Gamble, decided in 1976, the United States Supreme Court ruled that withholding

title: Languages of the United States

text: resettled in the United States. Before 1975 very few Cambodians came to the United States. Those who did were children of upper-class families sent abroad to attend school. After the fall of Phnom Penh to the communist Khmer Rouge in 1975, some Cambodians managed to escape. In 2007 the American Community Survey reported that there were approximately 200,000 Cambodians living in the United States, making up about 2% percent of the Asian population. This population is, however, heavily concentrated in two areas: the Los Angeles metropolitan area in California, especially the city of Long Beach; and Greater Boston in New

title: Foreign-born population of the United Kingdom

text: Foreign-born population of the United Kingdom The foreign-born population of the United Kingdom includes immigrants from a wide range of countries who are resident in the United Kingdom. In the period January to December 2016, there were groups from 22 foreign countries that were estimated to consist of at least 100,000 individuals residing in the UK (people born in Poland, India, Pakistan, the Republic of Ireland, Romania, Germany, Bangladesh, South Africa, China, Italy, Nigeria, Lithuania, the United States, France, Spain, the Philippines, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Australia, Portugal, Kenya and Zimbabwe). At the time of the UK census conducted in April

title: Culture of the United States

text: the population were English, German and Irish Catholics ). The British colonies inherited the English language, legal system, and British culture, which was the majority cultural heritage. Parts of what are now the United States were colonized by France, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, and Japan (Northern Mariana Islands and briefly Guam). Though eventually overtaken by British or American territorial expansion, the longer they lasted the more these earlier colonial societies contributed to modern-day culture, including place names, architecture, religion, language, and food. Jeffersonian democracy was a foundational American cultural innovation, which is still a core part of the

title: History of the Jews in the United States

text: Russian Jews who wanted to resettle in the United States. Initially, American Jews resisted Israeli efforts. Following Mikhail Gorbachev's decision in the late 1980s to allow free emigration for Soviet Jews, the American Jewish community agreed to a quota on Soviet Jewish refugees in the U.S., which resulted in most Soviet Jewish émigrés settling in Israel. The Russian Jewish population in the United States is the second only to the population of Russian Jews in Israel. According to RINA, there is a core Russian-Jewish population of 350,000 in the U.S. The enlarged Russian Jewish population in the U.S. is estimated

title: Demography of the United States

text: survey of 54,461 American residential households in the contiguous United States. The 1990 sample size was 113,723; 2001 sample size was 50,281. Adult respondents were asked the open-ended question, "What is your religion, if any?". Interviewers did not prompt or offer a suggested list of potential answers. The religion of the spouse or partner was also asked. If the initial answer was "Protestant" or "Christian" further questions were asked to probe which particular denomination. About one-third of the sample was asked more detailed demographic questions. Religious Self-Identification of the U.S. Adult Population: 1990, 2001, 2008<br>Figures are not adjusted for refusals

title: Public holidays in the United States

text: will have very few customers that day. The labor force in the United States comprises about 62% (as of 2014) of the general population. In the United States, 97% of the private sector businesses determine what days this sector of the population gets paid time off, according to a study by the Society for Human Resource Management. The following holidays are observed by the majority of US businesses with paid time off: This list of holidays is based off the official list of federal holidays by year from the US Government. The holidays however are at the discretion of employers

title: Political divisions of the United States

text: parish and Alaska uses the term borough for what the Census terms county equivalents in those states. Counties and county equivalents may be further subdivided into townships. Towns in New York, Wisconsin and New England are treated as equivalents to townships by the United States Census Bureau. Towns or townships are used as subdivisions of a county in 20 states, mostly in the Northeast and Midwest. Population centers may be organized into incorporated cities, towns, villages, and other types of municipalities. Municipalities are typically subordinate to a county government, with some exceptions. Certain cities, for example, have consolidated with their

title: Languages of the United States

text: Languages of the United States The most commonly used language in the United States is English (specifically, American English), which is the de facto national language. Nonetheless, many other languages are also spoken, or historically have been spoken, in the United States. These include indigenous languages, languages brought to the country by colonists, enslaved people and immigrants from Europe, Africa and Asia. There are also several languages, including creoles and sign languages, that developed in the United States. Approximately 430 languages are spoken or signed by the population, of which 176 are indigenous to the area. Fifty-two languages formerly spoken

title: Demographic history of the United States

text: as intermarriage from different ethnic groups was becoming common, causing people to form a common American identity. The total white population in 1790 was about 80% of British ancestry, and would go on to roughly double by natural increase every 25 years. From about 1675 onward, the native-born population of what would become the United States would never again drop below 85% of the total. In the early years of the U.S., immigration was only about 6,000 people a year on average, including French refugees from the slave revolt in Haiti. The French Revolution, starting in 1789, and the Napoleonic

text: a greater potential to be screened thoroughly beforehand. Additionally many death row inmates are in isolation from the general population, reducing their chances of having contracted a communicable disease. Other factors, however, variably decrease the suitability of death row inmates as organ donors. The average age of people on death row is over fifty, and chronic medical conditions such as diabetes and hypertension are common. Potentially half of the death row inmates would be unsuitable for organ donation. The primary method of execution in the United States is via lethal injection which generally involves the administration of three drugs: sodium

text: a fully informed decision. Becoming an organ donor may influence the appeals process, where sympathy or the chance of another individual benefiting from the inmates death may come into consideration. Additionally there is fear that the possibility of organ donation could influence the judgement jurors who may weigh the possibility of someone being able to live at the expense of the accused when deciding their verdict. Thus, whether or not depriving death row inmates the ability to donate their organs is protecting their rights, or stripping them away, continues to be debated. Organ donation in the United States prison population

title: Culture of the United States

text: Native American or American Indian, African American, Asian and White (European American). According to the U.S. government, Hispanic Americans do not constitute a race, but rather an ethnic group. During the 2000 U.S. Census, Whites made up 75.1% of the population; those who are Hispanic or Latino constituted the nation's prevalent minority with 12.5% of the population. African Americans made up 12.3% of the total population, 3.6% were Asian American and 0.7% were Native American. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution—ratified on Dec 6, 1865—abolished slavery in the United States. The northern states had outlawed slavery in their

title: History of Native Americans in the United States

text: certain. The term was first used primarily by Jacksonian Democrats in the 1840s to promote the annexation of much of what is now the Western United States (the Oregon Territory, the Texas Annexation, and the Mexican Cession). The age of Manifest Destiny, which came to be associated with extinguishing American Indian territorial claims and removing them to reservations, gained ground as the United States population explored and settled west of the Mississippi River. Although Indian Removal from the Southeast had been proposed by some as a humanitarian measure to ensure their survival away from Americans, conflicts of the 19th century

title: Demography of the United States

text: San Francisco, Miami, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Atlanta. , the United States had 51 metropolitan areas with a population of over 1,000,000 people each. (See Table of United States Metropolitan Statistical Areas.) , about 250 million Americans live in or around urban areas. That means more than three-quarters of the U.S. population shares just about three percent of the U.S. land area. The following table shows the populations of the top twenty metropolitan areas. Note Denver and Baltimore have over 2.5 million residents in their metro areas. The United States Census Bureau collects racial data in accordance with guidelines provided by

title: Social issues of the 1920s in the United States

text: Social issues of the 1920s in the United States The 1920s was the rise of a variety of social issues amidst a rapidly changing world. Conflicts arose concerning what was considered acceptable and respectable and what ought to be proscribed or made illegal. The conflict quickly coalesced into one largely between the liberal urban areas against the conservative rural areas. During the 1920s, the population in cities rapidly grew. Crime and political corruption became common and acceptable. Following a relatively conservative period following the First World War, a liberalism began to spread throughout urban areas during the years following 1925.

title: Mainland invasion of the United States

text: the U.S. economy, such as efforts to devalue the dollar or corner trade markets to isolate the United States, are currently considered another method by which a foreign power may seek to attack the United States. Many experts have considered the United States to be entirely uninvadable, because of the country's major industries, reliable and fast supply lines, large geographical size, population size, difficult regional features, and strong military force. For example, the deserts in the Southwestern United States and the Great Lakes in the Midwestern United States insulate the major U.S. population centers from threats of invasion. An invasion

title: History of the Southern United States

text: the state of Florida; the earliest was Tristán de Luna y Arellano's failed colony in what is now Pensacola in 1559. More successful was Pedro Menéndez de Avilés's St. Augustine, founded in 1565; St. Augustine remains the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the continental United States. Spain also colonized parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Spain issued land grants in the South from Kentucky to Florida and into the southwestern areas of what is now the United States. There was also a Spanish colony location near King Powhatan's ruling town in the Chesapeake Bay area of what is

title: Historical Statistics of the United States

text: Historical Statistics of the United States Historical Statistics of the United States (HSUS) is a compendium of statistics about United States. Originally published by the United States Census Bureau until 1975, it is now being published by Cambridge University Press. The last free version, the "Bicentennial Edition," appeared in two volumes in 1975 and is now available online. The current commercial version deals with Population, Work and Welfare, Economic Structure and Performance, Economic Sectors and Governance & International Relations, respectively, in five volumes. The fully searchable and downloadable electronic edition of Historical Statistics of the United States was developed by

title: Prehistory of the United States

text: these extinctions to the arrival of early humans, who over hunted the local large game. Under this model, the disappearance of saber-toothed cats and other contemporary predators would be explained by the loss of their primary source of food. However, this explanation is still controversial. Prehistory of the United States The prehistory of the United States comprises the occurrences within regions now part of the United States of America during the interval of time spanning from the formation of the Earth to the documentation of local history in written form. At the start of the Paleozoic era, what is now

title: Society of the United States

text: midwestern. The Midwestern accent (considered the "standard accent" in the United States, and analogous in some respects to the received pronunciation elsewhere in the English-speaking world) extends from what were once the "Middle Colonies" across the Midwest to the Pacific states. Historically, the United States' religious tradition has been dominated by Protestant Christianity. Today over three quarters of Americans identify as Christian with a slight majority identifying as Protestant (56%). Catholicism (27%) is the largest Christian denomination, as Protestants belong to a variety of denominations. Also practiced in the United States are many other religions, such as Judaism, Hinduism, Islam,

title: Languages of the United States

text: that German was almost made an official language of the United States but lost by one vote. In reality, it was a request by a group of German immigrants to have an official translation of laws into German. House speaker Frederick Muhlenberg has since become associated with the legend. The most recent data on Language Spoken at Home can be found via the United States Census Bureau's American Fact-finder. Spanish is spoken by approximately 35 million people. The United States has the world's fifth largest Spanish-speaking population, outnumbered only by Mexico, Colombia, Spain, and Argentina; other estimates put the United

title: Music of the United States

text: Music of the United States The music of the United States reflects the country's multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles. It is a mixture of music influenced by West African, Irish, Scottish and mainland European cultures among others. The country's most internationally renowned genres are jazz, blues, country, bluegrass, rock, rhythm and blues, soul, ragtime, hip hop, barbershop, pop, experimental, techno, house, dance, boogaloo, and salsa. The United States has the world's largest music market with a total retail value of 4,898.3 million dollars in 2014, and its music is heard around the world. Since the beginning of

title: Megaregions of the United States

text: Megaregions of the United States Megaregions of the United States are clustered networks of American cities, which are currently estimated to contain a total population exceeding 237 million. "America 2050", a project of the Regional Plan Association, lists 11 megaregions in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Megapolitan areas were explored in a July 2005 report by Robert E. Lang and Dawn Dhavale of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech. A later 2007 article by Lang and Nelson uses 20 megapolitan areas grouped into 10 megaregions. The concept is based on the original megalopolis model. A megaregion is a large

title: Anarchy Is What States Make of It

text: another; structure has no existence or causal powers apart from process. Self-help and power politics are institutions, not essential features, of anarchy. Anarchy is what states make of it". Anarchy Is What States Make of It "Anarchy Is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics" is a journal article by Alexander Wendt published in "International Organization" in 1992 that outlines a constructivist approach to international relations theory. Wendt argues that anarchy is not inherent in the international system in the way in which other schools of international relations theory envision it, but rather it is a

title: African immigration to the United States

text: entering the United States. It is estimated that the current population of African immigrants to the United States is about 2.1 million. According to the Migration Policy Institute, as of 2009 two-thirds of the African immigrants were from either East or West Africa. Countries with the most immigrants to the U.S. are Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa, Somalia, Eritrea, and Kenya. Seventy five percent (75%) of the African immigrants to the U.S. come from 12 of the 55 countries, namely Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya, Liberia, Somalia, Morocco, Cape Verde, Sierra Leone and Sudan (including what is

title: Society of the United States

text: 2000 U.S. Census Whites made up 75.1% of the population with those being Hispanic or Latino constituting the nation's prevalent minority with 12.5% of the population. African Americans made up 12.3% of the total population, 3.6% were Asian American and 0.7% were Native American. Approximately 62% of White Americans today are either wholly or partly of English, Welsh, Irish, or Scottish ancestry. Approximately 86% of White Americans are of northwestern European descent, and 14% are of southern and eastern European ancestry. Until the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on December 6, 1865 the United States was

title: Catholic Church in the United States

text: Catholic Church in the United States The Catholic Church in the United States is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Pope in Rome. With 20.8% of the United States population as of 2018, the Catholic Church is the country's second largest single religious group after Protestantism, but the country's largest religious denomination. The United States has the fourth largest Catholic population in the world after Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines, the largest Catholic minority population, and the largest English-speaking Catholic population. The central leadership body of the Catholic Church in the United States is the U.S.

title: Prehistory of the United States

text: Prehistory of the United States The prehistory of the United States comprises the occurrences within regions now part of the United States of America during the interval of time spanning from the formation of the Earth to the documentation of local history in written form. At the start of the Paleozoic era, what is now "North" America was actually in the southern hemisphere. Marine life flourished in the country's many seas, although terrestrial life had not yet evolved. During the latter part of the Paleozoic, seas were largely replaced by swamps home to amphibians and early reptiles. When the continents

title: Agricultural policy of the United States

text: the United States population works full-time on a farm. As the agribusiness lobby grows to near $60 million per year, the interests of agricultural corporations remain highly represented. In recent years, farm subsidies have remained high even in times of record farm profits. A large reason why agricultural policy has favored farmers over the course of United States history is because farmers tend to have favorable proportional political representation in government. The United States Senate tends to grant more power per person to inhabitants of rural states. Also, because the United States House of Representatives is re-apportioned only every 10

title: Borders of the United States

text: Borders of the United States The United States shares international land borders with two nations: The Russia – United States maritime boundary was defined by a disputed agreement covering the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and Arctic Ocean. The International Date Line essentially acts as the de facto border between the two nations; the USA ratified the USSR-USA Maritime Boundary Agreement, but the USSR failed to ratify it before dissolving, and it was subsequently never ratified by Russia. During the winter, travel between Russia's uninhabited Big Diomede Island and Alaska's Little Diomede Island with a population of 110 is theoretically possible,

title: Demography of the United States

text: U.S.-born descendants are expected to provide most of the U.S. population gains in the decades ahead. The Census Bureau projects a U.S. population of 417 million in 2060, a 38% increase from 2007 (301.3 million), and the United Nations estimates the U.S. population will be 402 million in 2050, an increase of 32% from 2007. In an official census report, it was reported that 54.4% (2,150,926 out of 3,953,593) of births in 2010 were non-Hispanic white. This represents an increase of 0.3% compared to the previous year, which was 54.1%. As of November 8, 2018, the United States is estimated

text: Data Software Research Company [DSRC] for Cambridge University Press. Historical Statistics of the United States Historical Statistics of the United States (HSUS) is a compendium of statistics about United States. Originally published by the United States Census Bureau until 1975, it is now being published by Cambridge University Press. The last free version, the "Bicentennial Edition," appeared in two volumes in 1975 and is now available online. The current commercial version deals with Population, Work and Welfare, Economic Structure and Performance, Economic Sectors and Governance & International Relations, respectively, in five volumes. The fully searchable and downloadable electronic edition of

title: Standard of living in the United States

text: the United States was $44,900, which put the United States in 19th place, behind many other developed countries. In 2015, median wealth in the United States was 55,775. The United States has one of the widest rich-poor gaps of any high-income nation today, and that gap continues to grow. Some prominent economists have warned that the widening rich-poor gap in the U.S. population is a problem that could undermine and destabilize the country's economy and standard of living. In 2006, Alan Greenspan wrote that "The income gap between the rich and the rest of the US population has become so

title: Original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the United States

text: Original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the United States The original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the United States is limited to a small class of cases described in Article III, section 2, of the United States Constitution, and further delineated by statute. The relevant constitutional clause states: Certain cases that have not been considered by a lower court may be heard by the Supreme Court in the first instance under what is termed original jurisdiction. The Supreme Court's authority in this respect is also derived from Article III of the Constitution, which states that the Supreme Court

title: Demography of the United States

text: but will remain the largest single ethnic group. In 2050 they will compose 46.3% of the population. Non-Hispanic whites made up 85% of the population in 1960. The report foresees the Hispanic or Latino population rising from 16% today to 30% by 2050, the Black percentage barely rising from 12.9% to 13.1%, and Asian Americans upping their 4.6% share to 7.8%. The United States had a population of 310 million people in October 2010, and is projected to reach 400 million by 2039 and 439 million in 2050. It is further projected that 82% of the increase in population from

title: Asylum in the United States

text: health. One of the first successful LGBT asylum pleas to be granted refugee status in the United States due to sexual orientation was a Cuban national whose case was first presented in 1989. The case was affirmed by the Board of Immigration Appeals and the barring of LGBT and queer individuals into the United States was repealed in 1990. The case, known as "Matter of Acosta" (1985), set the standard of what qualified as a "particular social group." This new definition of "social group" expanded to explicitly include homosexuality and the LGBT population. It considers homosexuality and gender identity a

title: Native Americans in the United States

text: Pacific Islander." The ancestors of modern Native Americans arrived in what is now the United States at least 15,000 years ago, possibly much earlier, from Asia via Beringia. A vast variety of peoples, societies and cultures subsequently developed. Native Americans were greatly affected by the European colonization of the Americas, which began in 1492, and their population declined precipitously due to introduced diseases, warfare, territorial confiscation and slavery. After the founding of the United States, many Native American peoples were subjected to warfare, removals and one-sided treaties, and they continued to suffer from discriminatory government policies into the 21st century.

title: History of the United States Congress

text: History of the United States Congress The history of the United States Congress refers to the chronological record of the United States Congress including legislative sessions. The Constitution defines the Senate as having two senators for each state in the Union. The size of the House of Representatives is based on the number of states and their populations. The numerical size of the House is set by law, not by the Constitution. The House grew in size as states were admitted throughout the 19th century, and as the nation grew in population. Since the Constitution allows for one representative for

title: Demography of the United States

text: of the population, including 11.2 million illegal immigrants, 80% of whom come from Latin America. Latin America is the largest region-of-birth group, accounting for over half (53%) of all foreign born population in US, and thus is also the largest source of both legal and illegal immigration to US. In 2011, there are 18.1 million naturalized citizens in the United States, accounting for 45% of the foreign-born population (40.4 million) and 6% of the total US population at the time, and around 680,000 legal immigrants are naturalized annually. 3.9 migrant(s)/1,000 population, estimated in 2017. Country comparison to the world: 29th.

title: Racism in the United States

text: of the above, the Atlantic slave trade prospered. According to estimates in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, between 1626 and 1860 more than 470,000 slaves were forcibly transported from Africa to what is now the United States. Prior to the Civil War, eight serving presidents owned slaves, a practice protected by the U.S. Constitution. Providing wealth for the white elite, approximately one Southern family in four held slaves prior to the Civil War. According to the 1860 U.S. census, there were about 385,000 slave owners out of a white population in the slave states of approximately 7 million. In the

text: down the benefit of hiring illegal immigrants. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2007 the number of unauthorized Mexican immigrants peaked at 6.9 million and has dropped by more than 1 million to an estimated 5.6 million in 2014. After the Great Recession, more immigrants actually returned to Mexico rather than migrated to the United States. From 2009 to 2014, 1 million Mexicans and their families left the U.S. for Mexico. U.S. census data for the same period show an estimated 870,000 Mexican nationals left Mexico to return to the U.S. It is hard to track of this because

title: Education of immigrants in the United States

text: it shrank to 4.7% and now has spiked to 13% in 2010. What makes the difference today is the demographic immigrating to the US. In the early 20th century that influx of immigrants came from Southern and Eastern Europe which was closer in cultural resemblance to the developed American culture of the time as well as their labor skills being almost universal in the early factory setting. Today, "53% of immigrants are from Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, or South America; further, about 59% of the illegal immigrant population in the United States in 2011 is from Mexico, with another

title: History of the Southern United States

text: History of the Southern United States The history of the Southern United States reaches back hundreds of years and includes the Mississippian people, well known for their mound building. European history in the region began in the very earliest days of the exploration and colonization of North America. Spain, France, and England eventually explored and claimed parts of what is now the Southern United States, and the cultural influences of each can still be seen in the region today. In the centuries since, the history of the Southern United States has recorded a large number of important events, including the

title: What Is Love

text: What Is Love "What Is Love" is a song recorded by Trinidadian-German Eurodance artist Haddaway for his debut album, "The Album". The song is recognizable by its refrain "What is love? Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me... no more." It was a massive hit in Europe, becoming a number-one hit in at least 13 countries and reaching number two in Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Outside Europe, the song was moderately successful, reaching number 11 in the United States, number 12 in Australia, number 17 in Canada, and number 48 in New Zealand. "What Is Love" was written

title: Anarchy Is What States Make of It

text: Anarchy Is What States Make of It "Anarchy Is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics" is a journal article by Alexander Wendt published in "International Organization" in 1992 that outlines a constructivist approach to international relations theory. Wendt argues that anarchy is not inherent in the international system in the way in which other schools of international relations theory envision it, but rather it is a construct of the nation-states in the system. At the core of constructivist thought is the idea that many core aspects of international relations are socially constructed (they are given

text: to the 2001 Census, as reported by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The table also lists population estimates of the foreign-born population for the top 60 foreign countries of birth in the period January 2010 to December 2010, published by the Office for National Statistics. In 2001, the five most common foreign countries of birth were the Republic of Ireland, India, Pakistan, Germany and the United States respectively. In 2010, the most common foreign countries of birth were India, Poland (up from 18th in 2001), Pakistan, the Republic of Ireland and Germany respectively. While those born in Germany

title: Demography of the United States

text: report based on 2010 US Census data The total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman. Sources: Ansley J. Coale, Zelnik and National Center for Health Statistics. Life expectancy in the United States from 1901 to 2015. Source: Our World In Data and the United Nations. 1901-1950 1950-2015 Source: "UN World Population Prospects" Number of births : Number of deaths : Natural increase : The United States has dozens of major cities, including 31 "global cities" of all types, with 10 in the "alpha" group of global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, Boston,

title: Immigration to the United States

text: Immigration to the United States Immigration to the United States is the international movement of non-U.S. nationals in order to reside permanently in the country. Lawful immigration has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the U.S. history. Because the United States is a settler colonial society, all Americans, with the exception of the small percent of Native Americans, can trace their ancestry to immigrants from other nations around the world. In absolute numbers, the United States has a larger immigrant population than any other country, with 47 million immigrants as of 2015. This

title: History of the Poles in the United States

text: the peak year for Polish language in the United States. A record number of respondents to the U.S. Census reported Polish as their native language in 1920, which has since been dropping as a result of assimilation. According to the 2000 United States Census, 667,000 Americans of age 5 years and older, reported Polish as the language spoken at home, which is about 1.4% of people who speak languages other than English or 0.25% of the U.S. population. Polish Americans established their own Catholic churches and parishes in the United States. A general pattern whereby laymen joined a city and

title: Islam in the United States

text: Islam in the United States Islam is the third largest religion in the United States after Christianity and Judaism. According to a 2017 study, it is followed by 1.1% of the population, compared with 70.6% who follow Christianity, 22.8% unaffiliated, 1.9% Judaism, 0.7% Buddhism, and 0.7% Hinduism. A 2017 study estimated that 3.45 million Muslims were living in the United States, about 1.1% of the total U.S. population. American Muslims come from various backgrounds and, according to a 2009 Gallup poll, are one of the most racially diverse religious groups in the United States. According to a 2017 study done

title: Social class in the United States

text: it can be used to describe those in-between the extremes of wealth, disregarding considerable differences in income, culture, educational attainment, influence, and occupation. As with all social classes in the United States, there are no definite answers as to what is and what is not middle class. Sociologists such as Dennis Gilbert, James Henslin, William Thompson, and Joseph Hickey have brought forth class models in which the middle class is divided into two sections that combined constitute 47% to 49% of the population. The upper middle or professional class constitutes the upper end of the middle class which consists of

title: Colonial history of the United States

text: nation. "Nieuw-Nederland", or New Netherland, was a colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands chartered in 1614, in what became New York State, New Jersey, and parts of other neighboring states. The peak population was less than 10,000. The Dutch established a patroon system with feudal-like rights given to a few powerful landholders; they also established religious tolerance and free trade. The colony's capital of New Amsterdam was founded in 1625 and located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan, which grew to become a major world city. The city was captured by the English

title: History of Guatemalan migrants in the United States

text: Some of the people while waiting for the application to be filled can live in the U.S. while others may be detained. This is the risk of those migrating. History of Guatemalan migrants in the United States Guatemalan migrants are the 10th largest migrant group in the United States., and the 3rd largest immigrant group from Central America. The 2015 American Community Survey estimates the Guatemalan American migrant population at 1,300,000, which is roughly 3% of the US foreign born population, and 0.4% of the total population of the United States. Of this group, the majority live in California, New

text: constitute one of the UK's largest foreign-born groups, many are British nationals who were born in Germany to British military personnel based there. The United States dropped to eighth place behind South Africa and Bangladesh, despite growth in the size of the US-born population. The period between 2001 and 2010 saw significant change in the UK's foreign-born population. In particular, the 2004 and 2007 enlargements of the European Union have led to mass migration from Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania, Poland, Slovakia and Lithuania. The number of Poland-born people resident in the UK increased from 60,711 in 2001 to an estimated 532,000

title: Great Seal of the United States

text: [[United States Congress]] ordered "that the seal heretofore used by the United States in Congress assembled, shall be, and hereby is declared to be, the seal of the United States." The final design was a combination of elements provided by all three committees: The metallic die of the obverse side of the Great Seal is what actually [[Embossing (paper)|embosses]] the design onto documents. These dies eventually wear down, requiring replacements to be made. The current die is the seventh engraving of the seal, and the actual design on the dies has evolved over time. [[File:US Great Seal 1782 drawing.png|thumb|Drawing of

text: years by the United States Census, and population tends to shift from rural to urban areas, farmers are often left with greater proportional power until the re-apportionment is complete. Also, the majority of agricultural policy research is funded by the USDA. Some economists believe this creates an incentive for government intervention because, among other considerations, the USDA will most likely not fund research criticizing its own activities. General: Agricultural policy of the United States The agricultural policy of the United States is composed primarily of the periodically renewed federal U.S. farm bills. Until the 1920s, the first 200 years of

title: Historical racial and ethnic demographics of the United States

text: percentage of their total population. Whites (including Non-Hispanic Whites) have historically made up the overwhelming majority (usually between eighty and ninety percent) of the total United States population. The United States historically had few Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans, especially before the late twentieth century. Most Asian Americans historically lived in the western United States. The Hispanic and Asian population of the United States has rapidly increased in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and the African American percentage of the U.S. population is slowly increasing as well since reaching a low point of less than ten percent in 1930.

title: Culture of the Southern United States

text: population group in the South is made up of the African American descendants of the slaves brought into the South. African Americans comprise the United States' largest racial minority, accounting for 13.6 percent of the total population according to the 2010 census, but accounted for nearly 45% of the Southern population during the Antebellum period and through the early 20th century. Despite Jim Crow era outflow to the North (see Great Migration (African American)), the majority of the black population has remained concentrated in the southern states, and blacks have been returning to the South in large numbers since the

title: Native Americans in the United States

text: major contacts were in Florida and the Gulf coast by Spanish explorers. From the 16th through the 19th centuries, the population of Indians sharply declined. Most mainstream scholars believe that, among the various contributing factors, epidemic disease was the overwhelming cause of the population decline of the Native Americans because of their lack of immunity to new diseases brought from Europe. It is difficult to estimate the number of pre-Columbian Native Americans who were living in what is today the United States of America. Estimates range from a low of 2.1 million to a high of 18 million (Dobyns 1983).

title: Music of the United States

text: in Louisiana before its purchase by the U.S. The Cajuns are a group of Francophones who arrived in Louisiana after leaving Acadia in Canada. The city of New Orleans, Louisiana, being a major port, has acted as a melting pot for people from all over the Caribbean basin. The result is a diverse and syncretic set of styles of Cajun music and Creole music. Spain and subsequently Mexico controlled much of what is now the western United States until the Mexican–American War, including the entire state of Texas. After Texas joined the United States, the native Tejanos living in the

title: Flag of the United States

text: Secretary of the Board of War Richard Peters expressed concern "it is not yet settled what is the Standard of the United States." However, the term, "Standard," referred to a national standard for the Army of the United States. Each regiment was to carry the national standard in addition to its regimental standard. The national standard was not a reference to the national or naval flag. The Flag Resolution did not specify any particular arrangement, number of points, nor orientation for the stars and the arrangement or whether the flag had to have seven red stripes and six white ones

title: Geography of the United States

text: eastern part of the Samoan Islands chain. The geography of the United States varies across its immense area. Within the continental U.S., eight distinct physiographic divisions exist, though each is composed of several smaller physiographic subdivisions. These major divisions are: The Atlantic coast of the United States is low, with minor exceptions. The Appalachian Highland owes its oblique northeast-southwest trend to crustal deformations which in very early geological time gave a beginning to what later came to be the Appalachian mountain system. This system had its climax of deformation so long ago (probably in Permian time) that it has since

title: Languages of the United States

text: in the United States are found in Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island in New York City (specifically the Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn); parts of Los Angeles, particularly West Los Angeles and West Hollywood; parts of Philadelphia, particularly the Far Northeast; and parts of Miami like Sunny Isles Beach. In Nikolaevsk, Alaska, 66.57% of the population speaks Russian at home. Slavic Voice of America media group serves Russian-speaking Americans out of Dallas. Modern Hebrew is used by some immigrants from Israel and Eastern Europe. Liturgical Hebrew is used as a religious or liturgical language by many of the United States'

title: Province 8 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America

text: than a third of the land mass of the United States, and nearly twenty percent of the country's population. Because of its sheer size, the province claims to contain the most demographically diverse population in the world. The Rt. Rev. James Mathes of the Diocese of San Diego serves as President and D. Rebecca Snow of the Diocese of Oregon serves as Vice President. Province 8 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America Province 8 (VIII) is one of nine ecclesiastical provinces making up the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. It is composed of

title: Society of the United States

text: in compulsory education, 5.2 million (10.4 percent) were attending private schools. Among the country's adult population, over 85 percent have completed high school and 27 percent have received a bachelor's degree or higher. The primary, although not official, language of the United States is English. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, more than 93% of Americans can speak English well, and for 81% it is the only language spoken at home. Nearly 30 million native speakers of Spanish also reside in the US. There are more than 300 languages besides English which can claim native speakers in the United States—some

title: History of the Southern United States

text: associated with the Federalist Party. They have also supplied Presidential losers: History of the Southern United States The history of the Southern United States reaches back hundreds of years and includes the Mississippian people, well known for their mound building. European history in the region began in the very earliest days of the exploration and colonization of North America. Spain, France, and England eventually explored and claimed parts of what is now the Southern United States, and the cultural influences of each can still be seen in the region today. In the centuries since, the history of the Southern United

title: Demography of the United States

text: 2008 Population Projections, 2020-2042. Decennial census and population projections: In 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau projected the future censuses as follows: The table below is based mainly on selected data as reported to the United States Census Bureau. It only includes the voluntary self-reported membership of religious bodies with 750,000 or more. The definition of a member is determined by each religious body. , the US census bureau reported that about 13% of the population did not identify themselves as a member of any religion. In a Pew Research Survey performed in 2012, Americans without a religion (atheists, agnostics, nothing

title: What Is Life

text: What Is Life "What Is Life" is a song by the English musician George Harrison, released on his 1970 triple album "All Things Must Pass". In many countries, it was issued as the second single from the album, in February 1971, becoming a top-ten hit in the United States, Canada and elsewhere, and topping singles charts in Australia and Switzerland. In the United Kingdom, "What Is Life" appeared as the B-side to "My Sweet Lord", which was the best-selling single there of 1971. Harrison's backing musicians on the song include Eric Clapton and the entire Delaney & Bonnie Friends band,

text: History of Guatemalan migrants in the United States Guatemalan migrants are the 10th largest migrant group in the United States., and the 3rd largest immigrant group from Central America. The 2015 American Community Survey estimates the Guatemalan American migrant population at 1,300,000, which is roughly 3% of the US foreign born population, and 0.4% of the total population of the United States. Of this group, the majority live in California, New York, Florida, and Texas. Roughly one quarter of Guatemalan Migrants reside in Anaheim County, California alone. A majority of these migrants are men; according to 2015 American Community Survey,

title: Demography of the United States

text: 4.32 people migrate per 1,000 population, estimated in 2010. "Note: Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number." Also note that growth arrows indicate an increase or decrease in the number of births, not in the fertility rate. NOTE: In 1900, when the U.S. population was 76 million, there were 66.8 million Whites in the United States, representing 88% of the total population, 8.8 million Black Americans, with about 90% of them still living in Southern states, and slightly more than 500,000 Hispanics. Under the law, the Immigration and Nationality Act of

title: Mainland invasion of the United States

text: & Conquer: Red Alert 2" the Soviet Union launches a massive invasion of the United States, with an emphasis on deploying psychic beacons in order to mind control the population. Mainland invasion of the United States The concept of a mainland invasion of the United States relates to military theory and doctrine which address the feasibility and practicality of a foreign power attacking and successfully invading the contiguous United States of America. The United States has been physically invaded a few times, once during the War of 1812 and several times during the Border War. During the Cold War, most

title: Incarceration of women in the United States

text: Incarceration of women in the United States This article discusses the incarceration of women in prisons and jails within the United States. According to a November 2017 report by the World Prison Brief around 212,000 of the 714,000 female prisoners worldwide (women and girls) are incarcerated in the United States. That report states: "The highest female prison population rates are in the U.S.A. (about 65.7 per 100,000 of the national population), Thailand (60.7), El Salvador (58.4), Turkmenistan (about 38.2), Seychelles (34.8), Russian Federation (33.5), French Guiana (32.4), Macau-China (31.3), Rwanda (29.6), Greenland (28.5) and American Samoa (27.3)." In the United

title: United States of the West

text: City and gained American citizenship in September 2001, immediately after the 9/11 attacks. Xavier discusses the current state of the world, world history, American and European styles of government, western culture, the intellectual traditions of France, the failures of the European Union, NATO and the United Nations to effectively address serious crises, and his own conception of the Western cultural tradition and Western philosophy, as well as what the events of 9/11 and the inevitable American response which will shortly follow, portends for both men. In his letter, de C*** states that currently, only the United States is in a

title: Music of the United States

text: European music. During the colonial era, English, French and Spanish styles and instruments were brought to the Americas. By the early 20th century, the United States had become a major center for folk music from around the world, including polka, Ukrainian and Polish fiddling, Ashkenazi, klezmer, and several kinds of Latin music. The Native Americans played the first folk music in what is now the United States, using a wide variety of styles and techniques. Some commonalities are near universal among Native American traditional music, however, especially the lack of harmony and polyphony, and the use of vocables and descending