The contiguous United States are the 48 U.S. states on the continent of North America that are south of Canada and north of Mexico, plus the District of Columbia. The term excludes the states of Alaska and Hawaii, and all off-shore U.S. territories and possessions, such as Puerto Rico.
Together, the 48 contiguous states and D.C. occupy a combined area of 3,119,884.69 square miles (8,080,464.3 km2). Of this, 2,959,064.44 square miles (7,663,941.7 km2) is land, comprising 83.65% of U.S. land area. Officially, 160,820.25 square miles (416,522.5 km2) is water area, comprising 62.66% of the nation's water area. Its 2000 census population was 279,583,437, comprising 99.35% of the nation's population. Its population density was 94.484 inhabitants/sq mi (36.480/km²), compared to 79.555/sq mi (30.716/km²) for the nation as a whole. The 2010 census population was 306,675,006, comprising 99.33% of the nation's population, and a density of 103.639 inhabitants/sq mi (40.015/km²), compared to 87.264/sq mi (33.692/km²) for the nation as a whole.
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
Kim Jong-un also romanised as Kim Jong-eun or Kim Jung-eun, (born 8 January 1983 or 1984), is the current supreme leader of North Korea. He has held the titles of the First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, First Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea, the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, and also a presidium member of the Central Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea. He was officially declared the supreme leader following the state funeral for his father, Kim Jong-il on 28 December 2011. He is the third and youngest son of his deceased predecessor Kim Jong-il and his consort Ko Young-hee. From late 2010, Kim Jong-un was viewed as heir apparent to the leadership of the nation, and following his father's death, he was announced as the "Great Successor" by North Korean state television. At Kim Jong-il's memorial service, North Korean Chairman of Congress Kim Yong-nam declared that "Respected Comrade Kim Jong-un is our party, military and country’s supreme leader who inherits great comrade Kim Jong-il’s ideology, leadership, character, virtues, grit and courage". On 30 December 2011 the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea formally appointed Kim as the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army. On 11 April 2012, the 4th Party Conference elected him to the newly-created post of First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea.
Asian Canadians ancestry refers to Canadians who can trace their ancestry back to the continent of Asia or the Asian people. Canadians of Asian ancestry comprise the largest visible minority group in Canada, at 11% of the Canadian population, and is the fastest growing. Most "Asian Canadians" are concentrated in the urban areas of southern Ontario, the Greater Vancouver area, Montreal, and other large Canadian cities. In Canada, the term 'Asian' is pan-continental, in contrast to its usage in other English-speaking countries.
Canada has a long history of Asian immigration over the past 100 years. During the 19th century, many Chinese arrived to take part in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Chinese who came from Guangdong Province blasted and chiseled the treacherous western stretch of railway through the Canadian Rockies. Japanese also had arrived in the 1890s and became fishermen and merchants in British Columbia. In 1923, the federal government passed the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, which banned all Chinese immigration. With this act, all other non-whites were restricted to come. In 1947, the act was repealed.