The United States of America is a state in North America. Area - 9.5 million km² (4th largest in the world). Population - slightly more than 333 million people (2021, estimate; 3rd place in the world). The USA is federatively organized, administratively consist of 50 states and federal district of Columbia, with a number of island territories (Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, and others) under their jurisdiction. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. The United States is bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, and it shares a maritime border with Russia to the west. It is bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west, the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Arctic Ocean on the north.

The United States of America was formed in 1776 when thirteen British colonies declared independence. The War of Independence lasted until 1783 and ended with the victory of the colonists. In 1787 the U.S. Constitution was adopted, and in 1791 - the Bill of Rights, which significantly limited the government's power over citizens. In 1861, tensions between the slave-holding Southern states and the industrial Northern states led to the outbreak of the four-year Civil War. The consequence of the northern states' victory was the widespread prohibition of slavery, as well as the restoration of the country after the split that had occurred when the southern states merged into the Confederacy and declared their independence.

The United States is a highly developed country, the largest economy in the world by nominal GDP and the second largest by GDP (PPP). Although its population is only 4.3% of the world's total, Americans own about 40% of the world's total wealth. The United States leads the world in a number of socio-economic indicators, including average wage, HDI, GDP per capita, and labor productivity. While the U.S. economy is post-industrial, dominated by the service and knowledge economy, its manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The economy accounts for about a quarter of global GDP and generates one-third of global military spending, making the U.S. the world's top economic and military power.

Under the U.S. Constitution adopted in 1787, certain powers to exercise state power are delegated to the federal government of the United States. State powers not defined for transfer to the federal government by the Constitution are exercised by the U.S. states. The separation of powers, in which the federal government consists of legislative, executive, and judicial bodies, which act independently of each other, is enshrined in the country's constitution. The highest legislative body is the bicameral Congress of the United States. The highest executive authority is the President of the United States. The president is the head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces (see List of U.S. Presidents). There is also a vice-president. The supreme judicial authority is the Supreme Court of the United States. The main political parties are the Republican and Democratic. There are also many other smaller parties.

The United States (U.S.) of America is racially and ethnically diverse. Over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries, the country has transformed from a predominantly white population rooted in European culture, to a society with a kaleidoscopic range of racial and ethnic minorities. While in the 1900s, the U.S. population was over 85% white and the nonwhite minority was composed primarily of black Americans living in the post-abolition rural South, there are many racial categories that are recognized in the U.S. today, including White American, Black or African American, Native American, Alaska Native, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Other Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino people, as well as persons of two or more races. American ethnic and religious communities also include Arab, Muslim, and Jewish populations.

According to the latest U.S. Census, white Americans are the racial majority that currently make up 77% of the population of the nation. Hispanic and Latino Americans have replaced black Americans as the largest ethnic minority, comprising an estimated 18% of the population. African Americans are the second largest racial minority, comprising an estimated 13% of the population. It is estimated that more than half of the children born in the U.S. today are non-white and that by 2042, the U.S. will become a majority minority country with whites being less than 50% of the population. In short, “minority” in the U.S. will have a very different meaning by the middle of the 21st century.

The United States has more immigrants than any other country in the world, and immigration is transforming the U.S. population. Today, more than 40 million people living in the U.S. were born in another country, which constitutes one-fifth of the world’s migrants. Just about every country in the world is represented among U.S. immigrants, blending people of different races, ethnicities, and cultures, thus being seen as a success story in a transition to a multiracial and a multicultural society.

Americans have historically been divided in their beliefs about long-terms effects of growing diversity. While some support the rapid growth of minorities as a welcome continuation of the “melting pot” tradition, others fear the waning disappearance of America’s European heritage. These anti-immigrant anxieties find solace in populist and xenophobic political promises and policies, as well as in racial and ethnic protests and extremist acts. Thus, in previous waves of anti-immigrant unrest that predated this trend’s most recent permutation during the administration of Donald J. Trump, a war on illegal immigration proliferated in the 1990s, mobilized voters and fueled American politics. During that decade, Americans also witnessed racial riots in Los Angeles, the burning of African American churches in the South, and murders on racial grounds, including of a Filipino postal worker in California and of a black man in Texas. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all built walls and fortified the U.S.-Mexico border and increased the number of Border Patrol agents. Interestingly, these anti-immigration federal policies did not always match actual immigration patterns. Even at times when immigration stabilized and dropped, politicians continued to use xenophobia to mobilize voters, pass anti-immigration laws, and support for-profit detention facilities. In short, the idea that undocumented immigrants, as well as minorities, present a danger to the U.S has deep historical roots.

The latest upsurge of xenophobic anxieties became the keystone of Trump’s presidential election in 2016. From demonizing Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and “criminals” and pledging to build a wall along the entirety of the U.S.-Mexico border, to branding Syrian refugees as a “Trojan horse” and ISIL supporters, The Trump administration has helped radicalize American political discourse that has benefited extremists across the ideological specter, ranging from proponents of the radical right to Islamists to the representatives of the radical left.