In honor of Canada Day (July 1) and US Independence Day (July 4th), we’ve compiled a few interesting facts and comparisons between the US and Canada, all in the spirit of information, curiosity, and some fun.
Demographics:
- Population: US – 329.8M; Canada – 37.7M (projected for both countries as of July 1, 2020)
- Over the past decade, the population of Canada has consistently been about 11% of the US, but while US growth is slowing (0.5% in 2019, a continuation of a multiyear slowdown since 2014), Canadian population growth is increasing (4%, the highest among G7 countries)
- In both US and Canada, estimates show women are more likely to graduate with a bachelor’s or equivalent over their lifetime than men.
| United States | Canada | |
| Bachelor’s or equivalent level, women (2017) | 57% | 59.6% |
| Bachelor’s or equivalent level, men (2017) | 42.7% | 40.4% |
- Canada is about as diverse as the US; between 72-73% of both countries are of European descent. Canada has a high immigration rate, and almost 5% Native American population (First Nations Metis & Inuit).
- Canada’s literacy rate is over 99% (as is that of the US)
Health
- Approximately 90% in the US have public or private health insurance; 30.1M people have no public or private health insurance
- In Canada, 100% of the population have health insurance
- Life expectancy: US is 78.87 and Canada is 82.37 years (2019)
- Infant mortality rate for the US is 1% higher than Canada’s at 5.3%, Canada’s is 4.3 deaths per thousand live births.
| US | Canada | |
| COVID – 19 deaths per 100,000 | 38.45 | 23.16 |
Economy:
- GDP: US is $21.4 trillion; Canada is $1.713 trillion (2020);
- S&P Government Bond Rating: US treasuries AA+, Canada AAA
- Budget Deficit % of GDP: US 4.6% (2019); Canada 0.9% (2019)
- US tech employment is 7.7% of employment where the tech sector makes up 10% of GDP, and is the 3rd largest sector in the economy
- Canadian tech employment is 3.6% of the total workforce and almost 5% of GDP
Geography
- While the US has more land, Canada has 23% more water, making the area of Canada larger than the United States just under 2%
- Canada has the longest coastline in the world
- The highest tides in the world occur in the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick
- Canada has six time zones
- The east coast of Canada was settled by Vikings in approximately 1000 AD
Fun Facts
US
- The first person to appear on the US $1 was Salmon P. Chase (not George Washington), the Secretary of Treasury in 1862 when the bill was introduced.
- Christmas was illegal in the US until 1836 because it was considered a pagan holiday
- The United States is the only country that has all of Earth’s five climate zones: tropical, dry, temperate, continental, and polar
- More than nine in every 10 Americans have eaten pizza in the last month. According to some estimates, Americans consume the equivalent of about 100 acres of pizza every day
- There are an estimated 75.8 million dogs in the United States, more than double the number in Brazil, the country with the second most dogs
- There are more guns than people in the United States – about 101 for every 100 people, according to some estimates. The country with the next highest ownership rate is Serbia, where there are 58 guns for every 100 people
- Three out of every four tornadoes in the world occur in the United States and there are more hurricanes in the US than any other country in the world
Canada
- The capital of Canada is Ottawa, the second coldest capital after Moscow
- Canada consumes more mac and cheese than any other country in the world
- Canada has a strategic maple syrup reserve in case the rest of the world runs out
- Hawaiian pizza was invented in Ontario, Canada.
- The Mall of America is owned by Canadians
- Superman was co-created by a Canadian Joe Shuster and American Jerry Siegal. The character was created while Shuster was visiting Siegal in Cleveland in 1934
- The game Trivial Pursuit was invented by a Canadian
- Dog food is tax deductible in Canada
- The baseball glove was invented in Canada in 1883
Happy US Independence Day! July 2nd was the day that Congress voted to free the US from British rule. However, the Fourth of July, 1776 is when John Hancock wrote the first signature on the Declaration of Independence in order to spread the word of the vote. Fifty-six men signed the document that announced intended independence from British rule – eight of the signers were British.
Happy Canada Day! Canada Day is referred to as Canada’s birthday and commemorates the joining on July 1, 1867, of the colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick into a wider British federation of four provinces. Canada became a “kingdom in its own right” within the British Empire commonly known as the Dominion of Canada and gained increased political control over its own governance.
Sachi Lagwankar contributed data and research to this post.
