Similarities & Differences Between Canada & United States

United North America - Helping Canada's Provinces Join The USA

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." - John Adams

The following table consists of facts and statistics concerning Canada and the United States, as recent as Jan 1, 2007 (unless otherwise indicated).

	Canada	United States	Analysis
Geography & Resources
Total Area¹	9,984,670 sq km ------------------------ 3,855,103 sq mi	9,826,630 sq km ------------------------ 3,794,083 sq mi	Canada has 1.6% more total area.
Land Area¹	9,093,507 sq km ------------------------ 3,511,023 sq mi	9,161,923 sq km ------------------------ 3,537,438 sq mi	US has 0.7% more land.
Renewable Freshwater Supply²	2,901 cu km (1980)	2,478 cu km (1985)	Canada has 14.6% more renewable freshwater.
Energy Supply per capita (equivalent oil) (2004)³	8.06 tonnes	7.72 tonnes	Canada has 4.2% more energy per capita.
Major Protected Areas as % of total area (land) (2005)³	8.7%	25.1%	US has 2.9 times more naturally protected areas.
Population
Population¹	33,390,141	301,139,947	US has 9.0 times more people.
Age Structure¹	0-14 yrs: 17.3% 15-64 yrs: 69.2% 65 yrs +: 13.5%	0-14 yrs: 20.2% 15-64 yrs: 67.2% 65 yrs +: 12.6%	US has a slightly younger population.
Population Growth Rate¹	0.87% growth	0.89% growth	US has a slightly higher growth rate.
Birth rate¹	10.8 births / 1,000 population	14.1 births / 1,000 population	US has a 23.4% higher birth rate.
Death Rate¹	7.9 deaths / 1,000 population	8.3 deaths / 1,000 population	US has a 4.8% higher death rate.
Net Migration Rate¹	5.8 migrants / 1,000 population	3.0 migrants / 1,000 population	Canada has a 1.9 times higher migrant rate.
Sex Ratio¹	0.98 male/female	0.97 male/female	Canada has a 1% greater male pop.
Life Expectancy¹	80.3 years	78.0 years	Canada has a 2.9% higher life expectancy.
Ethnic Groups	White: 85.6% Asian: 8.9% Native: 3.3% Black: 2.2% (2001)⁴	White: 81.7% Black: 13.4% Asian: 4.0% Native: 1.0% (2000)⁵	Canada has 3.9% more Whites, 2.2 times more Asians, and 3.3 times more Natives. US has 6.1 times more Blacks. All per capita. See below for further information.
Languages (spoken at home)	English: 70.7% French: 22.7% Spanish: 0.3% (2001)⁴	English: 82.1% Spanish: 10.7% French: 0.8% (2000)⁵	US has slightly more English speakers, and 35.7 times more Spanish speakers. Canada has 28.4 times more French speakers. All per capita.
Religions¹	Roman Catholic: 42.6% Protestant: 23.3% Other: 18.1% None: 16% (2001)	Protestant: 52% Roman Catholic: 24% Other: 14% None: 10% (2002)	Canada has 18.6% more Roman Catholics, and 6% more non-religious people. US has 28.7% more Protestants. All per capita.
Literacy (2003)¹	99%	99%	No discernible difference.
Economy
GDP	$1.287 trillion USD⁴	$13.458 trillion USD⁶	US has 11.0 times greater GDP.
GDP per capita	$38,544 USD⁴	$44,690 USD⁶	US has 13.8% greater GDP per capita.
GDP growth rate (2005)³	1 year: 2.9% 10 year: 3.3%	1 year: 3.2% 10 year: 3.3%	US GDP is growing 0.3% more over a 1 year period. Canada's and US' GDPs are growing by the same rate over a 10 year period.
Personal Disposable Income per capita⁷	$22,491 USD	$31,794 USD	US has a 29.3% higher disposable income.
Unemployment Rate (2005)³	6.8%	5.1%	Canada has a 1.3 times higher unemployment rate.
Trading Partners - Exports / Imports	US: 79.2% / 65.5% Japan: 2.3% / 2.9% UK: 2.5% / 2.4%⁴	Canada: 22.2% / 16.4% China: 5.3% / 15.5% Mexico: 12.9% / 10.7%⁵	US is Canada's largest trading partner. Canada is US' largest trading partner.
Government Surplus/Deficit as % of GDP (2004)³	0.68%	-4.72%	Canada's lending represents 0.68% of its GDP. US' borrowing represents 4.72% of its GDP.
Government Debt as % of GDP (2004)³	72.2%	64.0%	Canada has 8.2% greater marketable debt as expressed in % of GDP.
Military Expenditure as % of GDP¹	1.1% (2005)	4.1% (2005)	US spends 3.7 times more money on military as expressed in % of GDP.
Research & Development as % of GDP (2005)³	1.99%	2.68%	US spends 1.3 times more money on R&D as expressed in % of GDP.
ODA Development AID Expenditure as % of GNI (2005)³	0.34%	0.22%	Canada publicly spends 1.5 times more on development AID as expressed in % of GNI.
Educational Expenditure as % of GDP (2004)³	6.1%	7.3%	US spends 1.2% more money on education as expressed in % of GDP.
Health Care Expenditure as % of GDP (2004)³	9.9%	15.3%	US spends 1.5 times more money on health care as expressed in % of GDP.
Total Government Expenditure as % of GDP (2004)³	40.5%	36.4%	Canada spends 4.1% more money in total as expressed in % of GDP.
Total Tax Receipts as % of GDP (2003)³	33.8%	25.6%	Canada collects 1.3 times more taxes as expressed in % of GDP.
Consumer Price Index annual change³	2.5%	4.3%	US has 1.7 times greater CPI.
Exchange Rate⁸	$0.882 USD	$1.134 CAD	US dollar is 11.8% greater in value.
Infrastructure
Railways¹	48,467 km ------------------------ 30,118 mi (2005)	226,605 km ------------------------ 140,806 mi (2004)	US has 4.7 times more railway miles.
Highways (paved) (2005)¹	415,600 km ------------------------ 258 242 mi	4,165,110 km ------------------------ 2,588,079 mi	US has 10.0 times more highway miles.
Airports (paved) (2005)¹	509	5,119	US has 10.1 times more airports.
Miscellaneous
Independence Day¹	July 1, 1867	July 4, 1776	US is 91 years older (Note: Canada was not fully self-governing until December 11, 1931).
Representatives of Government (Legislative)¹	House Members: 308 Senators: 105 ------------------------ Total per 1 million pop: 12.6	House Members: 435 Senators: 100 ------------------------ Total per 1 million pop: 1.8	US has 122 more representatives. Canada has 7 times more representatives per capita.
Nobel Prize Laureates (2002)⁹	10 ------------------------ Total per 1 million pop: 0.31	270 ------------------------ Total per 1 million pop: 0.96	US has 3.1 more Nobel Laureates per capita. Arbitrarily chosen for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace.
IMD World Competitiveness rating¹⁰	10th	1st	An arbitrary ranking based on some statistics and a rating system.
Freedom House rating¹¹	1st	1st	An arbitrary ranking based on some statistics and a rating system.
United Nations HDI rating¹²	6th	8th	An arbitrary ranking based on some statistics and a rating system.

Summary:

Geography & Resources: Canada and the United States are both very large nations, making up the vast majority of the North American continent. Canada has slightly larger territory, and the US has slightly more land. On a physical map the two countries appear to be on an equal footing, but in reality much of Canada is unsuitable for normal living conditions due to the very cold climate. This has resulted in the majority of Canada's population living along a long strip of land straddling the US border (see Canada population distribution map). Even so, the large geography of Canada does contain a great many natural resources, including one of the world's largest fresh water supplies. Although not counted as a renewable freshwater resource, Canada and the US share the the Great Lakes, which contain nearly 6 quadrillion gallons of water.¹³ Combined, Canada and the US would make the largest nation on Earth with the largest amount of freshwater supply.

Population: The largest advantage the US has over Canada is its much larger population. The US and Canadian growth rates are fairly comparable, but the way they are growing is quite different. Canada's growth is supported much more by a higher immigration rate. The absolute number of immigrants to the US is much greater, but on a per capita basis Canada's migrant rate is nearly double that of the US. Likewise, the US birth rate is much higher than Canada's. Even when combined with the higher death rate, the US internal growth rate is nearly double Canada's. This results in Canada becoming more foreign, and the US becoming more USAmerican, at least on paper. One must consider the uncounted number of illegal migrants, which some estimate are coming at a rate of 500,000 a month.¹⁴Due to the fact that Canada does not share a border with a less developed nation, illegal immigration is much less of a problem.

The US Census Bureau and Statistics Canada classify ethnic groups quite differently, and therefore a true comparison between the two is difficult. However, Statistics Canada does record "Visible Minorities" and "Aboriginals" so some inferences can be made. The US statistic above was calculated by looking at "one race only" results and ignoring all races which could not be assigned to either White, Black, Asian or Native American. Original data can be viewed from this link. The Canadian statistic above was calculated by classifying all Blacks as "Black", all South Asian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Southeast Asian, and Filipinos as "Asian", all Aboriginals as "Native", and all others as "White". We can see according to this estimate that Canada has slightly more Whites, one sixth as many Blacks, over two times as many Asians, and over three times as many Native Americans, proportionally. As with life expectancy and religious affiliation, these are less to do with national differences and have more to do with regional differences. For example, Washington State's ethnic population makeup is as follows: White 81.8%, Asian 5.5%, Black 3.2%, and Native 1.6%.⁵ By and large, northern states, like their Canadian provincial counterparts, tend to have less Blacks and more Natives. Additionally, life expectancies tend to be slightly higher among northern states (See: Average Life Expectancy at Birth by State). The difference in religious beliefs is mainly due to high proportion of French-Canadian Catholics located primarily in the Province of Quebec. The Catholics of Quebec account for nearly half of all Catholics in Canada and thus highly skew the national figures.

Economy: It is well known that the US has had the strongest economy in the world since the post WWII era. Comparatively, the US has more than double the GDP of the second highest ranked country, Japan, which is just over 4.6 trillion.¹⁵ However, the statistic that really shows how well a country is doing comparative to their population is the GDP per capita figure. In this category, the US lists within the top ten countries of the world. It outperforms Canada by nearly 18%, and China, the 4th largest world economy, by 24.7 times.¹⁵ In 2004, the most current year data is available, the US posted a much better GDP growth rate, but over the long term both Canada and the US are growing at very comparable rates.

Economics is obviously a complicated area and there are many factors to consider, but one major factor that helps the US maintain its strength in the global economy and in comparison to Canada in particular, is its large domestic market. Interestingly, if the European Union is counted as a nation, it would have a larger GDP than the United States, but Canada and the United States combined would make the world's largest economy.

Military: One of the main reasons why the US spends so much on its military is that it is the economic leader of the world. Holding that place makes enemies of smaller, less wealthy countries and/or groups that oppose the fundamental beliefs of democracy and freedom that the United States stands for. For example, North Korea spends approximately 31% of its GDP on its military, while its people literally starve. Many other hostile countries do not publicly give out information on military expenditures. However, it is well known that countries such as Iran, Libya, and others are in the process of seeking or already possess nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. As the only remaining superpower in the world, the United States sees itself as obligated to try and keep peace and order. Many people may oppose actions that the US takes or has taken to fulfill that obligation, but if not for the US, many aggressive land-hungry nations would be waging bloody wars every day. Canada plays a part in keeping the peace, though its political support greatly outweighs its military contributions. Many First or Second World countries, and a few Third World countries have the ability to defeat Canada alone in a military engagement. However, Canada is one of the safest places in the world to live because the US is immediately west and south of it.

Representatives of Government: What the above figures illustrate, is that on a comparative level Canada has a much bigger government. Although it is debatable whether much of Parliaments back-benchers or the 105 un-elected Senators actually represent Canada, this does all cost the Canadian taxpayer much more than the US taxpayer. This is simply because Canada does not have the population base to justify such a huge government.

UN rating: The once much emphasized fact by many Canadian nationalists. Until recently Canada has been rated #1 by the UN. Beginning in 2003 UNDP report rated Canada as #8 overall, and the United States #7. Canadians and Americans alike shouldn't feel too bad about this. The United Nations is an organization which has very noble humanitarian causes, such as "ending world hunger", "eliminating racial and gender inequalities", "reducing the economical gap between the rich and poor" as well as others. These are all problems that if could be fixed, would make the world a better place. However, the HDI rating takes into account only three very simple characteristics of a country: Life Expectancy, Literacy/Enrollment and PPP. Hardly a basis for declaring the "best country in the world".

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