How much economic influence does the USA have?
The United States of America is the world's foremost economic and military power.
Facts about the US economy
The US:
- has the third largest population in the world (335 million, 2024)
- economy was worth just under $28 trillion in 2024 (China was next highest at just under $19 trillion)
- household median adjusted disposable income in 2024 was US $51,147. By comparison the UK was $33,049. (Source: World Population Review)
Entrepreneurship and business in the USA
The US is home to many entrepreneurs (Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, etc) and has founded many globally important companies, for example, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.
US international aid
The US also provides the greatest amount of international aid of any single country (2024):
- $12 billion to the United Nations – one fifth of the entire UN budget
- $63.1 billion is given to USAID – the US Agency for International Development for missions in more than 80 countries
How much military influence does the USA have?
Militarily, the US remains the world's only superpower.
- It spends over one third (39% of the total world defence spending
- US defence spend in 2022 was $877 billion which was more than the defence budgets of the next 10 countries combined
- Although the US spends by far the most on defence in billions of dollars, it does not spend the most as a percentage of GDP which is only around 3.1%
The US has one of the largest naval fleet in the world. The US carrier fleet dwarfs every other country in the world, particularly in terms of in size and technological hardware. The scale of the US navy allows it to have a military presence anywhere in the world.
What is the USA's cultural influence?
The USA's cultural influence extends across the world. Over two billion people speak some English in the world today with the majority speaking an Americanised version of the language.
US TV programmes, films, video games and music have a large domestic market of more than 300 million customers, in addition to their influence on the rest of the world. The USA also has a social and cultural impact on immediate neighbours such as Mexico and Canada and on North/Central America as a whole.
