The OECD defines a cost of living index (COLI) as an index that measures the change in the minimum expenditures that would be incurred by a utility-maximizing consumer, whose preferences or tastes remain unchanged, in order to maintaining a given ...
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Washington)
US$ 15.61 trillion (2011 estimate)
15.61 trillion of International dollars (2011 estimate)
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| 1.1% | 1.8% | 2.5% | 3.6% | 3.1% | 2.7% | 1.9% | -0.3% |
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012* | ||||
| -3.5% | 3% | 1.7% | 2.1% |
*Estimate
US$ 49,601 (2011 estimate)
$49,601 International Dollars (2011 estimate)
| 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2015** |
| 24.59% | 24.8% | 23.63% | 19.47% | 18.14% |
**Forecast
(Data released on February 2012)
2.9% (2009)
(Data released on March 2012)
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012* |
| -0.3%(2008) | 1.6% | 3.1% | 2.1% |
*Estimate
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012* |
| 9.3% | 9.6% | 9%(2009) | 8.2% |
*Estimate
4.5% (Net saving; 2012 forecast)
(Data released on December 2011)
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012* |
| 76.1% | 89.9% | 98.5% | 102.9% | 106.6% |
*Estimate
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011* | 2012** |
| -6.7% | -13% | -10.5% | -9.6% | -8.1% |
*Estimate **Forecast
Standard & Poor's: AA+
Moody's rating: Aaa
Moody's outlook: NEG
(Foreign Currency Government Bond Ratings; Data last updated Dec 2011 and Nov 2012)
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
| US$15.08 trillion | US$17.14 trillion | US$15.64 trillion |
Omnicom Group (Advertising ), Interpublic Group (Advertising ), Boeing (Aerospace and defense), Lockheed Martin (Aerospace and defense), General Dynamics (Aerospace and defense), Raytheon (Aerospace and defense), Northrop Grumman (Aerospace and defense), Precision Castparts (Aerospace and defense), L-3 Communications (Aerospace and defense), Goodrich (Aerospace and defense), Rockwell Collins (Aerospace and defense), SAIC (Aerospace and defense), United Parcel Service (Air Courier), FedEx (Air Courier), Expeditors International (Air Courier), Delta Air Lines (Airline), United Continental Holdings (Airline), Southwest Airlines (Airline), US Airways Group (Airline), Alcoa (Aluminum), NIKE (Apparel/Accessories), VF (Apparel/Accessories), Ralph Lauren (Apparel/Accessories), Coach (Apparel/Accessories), PVH (Apparel/Accessories), Gap (Apparel/Footwear Retail), Limited Brands (Apparel/Footwear Retail), Ross Stores (Apparel/Footwear Retail), Ford Motor (Auto & Truck Manufacturers), General Motors (Auto & Truck Manufacturers), Johnson Controls (Auto & Truck Parts), TRW Automotive Holdings (Auto & Truck Parts), Goodyear (Auto & Truck Parts), AMR (Auto & Truck Parts), Lear (Auto & Truck Parts), Coca-Cola (Beverages), PepsiCo (Beverages), Coca-Cola Enterprises (Beverages), Dr Pepper Snapple Group (Beverages), Molson Coors Brewing (Beverages), Beam (Beverages), Monster Beverage (Beverages), Constellation Brands (Beverages), Green Mountain Coffee (Beverages), Amgen (Biotechs), Gilead Sciences (Biotechs), Celgene (Biotechs), Biogen Idec (Biotechs), BorgWarner (Biotechs), Life Technologies (Biotechs), Alexion Pharmaceuticals (Biotechs), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Biotechs), Comcast (Broadcasting & Cable), Walt Disney (Broadcasting & Cable), News Corp (Broadcasting & Cable), Time Warner (Broadcasting & Cable), Time Warner Cable (Broadcasting & Cable), Directv (Broadcasting & Cable), Viacom (Broadcasting & Cable), CBS (Broadcasting & Cable), DISH Network (Broadcasting & Cable), Liberty Global (Broadcasting & Cable), Discovery Communications (Broadcasting & Cable), Liberty Media (Broadcasting & Cable), Charter Communications (Broadcasting & Cable), Brown-Forman (Broadcasting & Cable), Sirius XM Radio (Broadcasting & Cable), CC Media Holdings (Broadcasting & Cable), Scripps Networks (Broadcasting & Cable), Automatic Data (Business & Personal Services), Priceline.com (Business & Personal Services), Fidelity National Info (Business & Personal Services), Paychex (Business & Personal Services), Moody's (Business & Personal Services), World Fuel Services (Business & Personal Services), Manpower (Business & Personal Services), Apollo Group (Business & Personal Services), Alliance Data Systems (Business & Personal Services), Xerox (Business Products & Supplies), Pitney Bowes (Business Products & Supplies), Las Vegas Sands (Casinos & Gaming), MGM Mirage (Casinos & Gaming), Wynn Resorts (Casinos & Gaming), Cisco Systems (Communications Equipment), Qualcomm (Communications Equipment), Corning (Communications Equipment), Motorola Solutions (Communications Equipment), Motorola Mobility (Communications Equipment), Juniper Networks (Communications Equipment), Harris (Communications Equipment), Best Buy (Computer & Electronics Retail), GameStop (Computer & Electronics Retail), Apple (Computer Hardware), Hewlett-Packard (Computer Hardware), Dell (Computer Hardware), IBM (Computer Services), Google (Computer Services), Yahoo (Computer Services), Cognizant Technology (Computer Services), Caesars Entertainment (Computer Services), Computer Sciences (Computer Services), Fiserv (Computer Services), Teradata (Computer Services), F5 Networks (Computer Services), EMC (Computer Storage Devices), SanDisk (Computer Storage Devices), NetApp (Computer Storage Devices), Western Digital (Computer Storage Devices), General Electric (Conglomerates), United Technologies (Conglomerates), 3M (Conglomerates), Honeywell International (Conglomerates), Danaher (Conglomerates), Dover (Conglomerates), Textron (Conglomerates), Fluor (Construction Service), KBR (Construction Service), Jacobs Engineering (Construction Service), American Express (Consumer Financial Services), Capital One Financial (Consumer Financial Services), Visa (Consumer Financial Services), Discover Financial Services (Consumer Financial Services), MasterCard (Consumer Financial Services), SLM (Consumer Financial Services), Western Union (Consumer Financial Services), CIT Group (Consumer Financial Services), First Marblehead (Consumer Financial Services), Nelnet (Consumer Financial Services), Ball (Containers & Packaging), Crown Holdings (Containers & Packaging), Rock-Tenn (Containers & Packaging), Macy's (Department Stores), TJX Cos (Department Stores), Kohl's (Department Stores), Sears Holdings (Department Stores), Nordstrom (Department Stores), JC Penney (Department Stores), Dillard's (Department Stores), Wal-Mart Stores (Discount Stores), Target (Discount Stores), Costco Wholesale (Discount Stores), Dollar General (Discount Stores), Dollar Tree (Discount Stores), Family Dollar Stores (Discount Stores), Dow Chemical (Diversified Chemicals), EI du Pont de Nemours (Diversified Chemicals), PPG Industries (Diversified Chemicals), Celanese (Diversified Chemicals), Huntsman (Diversified Chemicals), American Intl Group (Diversified Insurance), MetLife (Diversified Insurance), Allstate (Diversified Insurance), Loews (Diversified Insurance), Hartford Financial Services (Diversified Insurance), Reinsurance Group of America (Diversified Insurance), Assurant (Diversified Insurance), Genworth Financial (Diversified Insurance), American Financial Group (Diversified Insurance), Cincinnati Financial (Diversified Insurance), MBIA (Diversified Insurance), Old Republic International (Diversified Insurance), Freeport-McMoRan Copper (Diversified Metals & Mining), Newmont Mining (Diversified Metals & Mining), Peabody Energy (Diversified Metals & Mining), Consol Energy (Diversified Metals & Mining), Alpha Natural Resources (Diversified Metals & Mining), American Water Works (Diversified Utilities), CVS Caremark (Drug Retail), Walgreen (Drug Retail), Rite Aid (Drug Retail), Southern Co (Electric Utilities), Exelon (Electric Utilities), NextEra Energy (Electric Utilities), Duke Energy (Electric Utilities), Dominion Resources (Electric Utilities), American Electric (Electric Utilities), FirstEnergy (Electric Utilities), PPL (Electric Utilities), PG&E (Electric Utilities), Consolidated Edison (Electric Utilities), Public Service Enterprise (Electric Utilities), Entergy (Electric Utilities), Xcel Energy (Electric Utilities), Progress Energy (Electric Utilities), DTE Energy (Electric Utilities), Edison International (Electric Utilities), AES (Electric Utilities), Ameren (Electric Utilities), CMS Energy (Electric Utilities), Wisconsin Energy (Electric Utilities), Calpine (Electric Utilities), Northeast Utilities (Electric Utilities), NRG Energy (Electric Utilities), Scana (Electric Utilities), Pepco Holdings (Electric Utilities), Pinnacle West (Electric Utilities), OGE Energy (Electric Utilities), Emerson Electric (Electrical Equipment), WW Grainger (Electrical Equipment), Ametek (Electrical Equipment), Agilent Technologies (Electronics), Avnet (Electronics), Arrow Electronics (Electronics), Jabil Circuit (Electronics), Ingram Micro (Electronics), Amphenol (Electronics), Tech Data (Electronics), Waste Management (Environmental & Waste), Republic Services (Environmental & Waste), Kraft Foods (Food Processing), Archer Daniels Midland (Food Processing), General Mills (Food Processing), Kellogg (Food Processing), HJ Heinz (Food Processing), ConAgra Foods (Food Processing), Tyson Foods (Food Processing), Sara Lee (Food Processing), Campbell Soup (Food Processing), Hershey (Food Processing), Hormel Foods (Food Processing), JM Smucker (Food Processing), Smithfield Foods (Food Processing), Corn Products International (Food Processing), Dean Foods (Food Processing), McCormick & Co (Food Processing), Kroger (Food Retail), Sysco (Food Retail), Safeway (Food Retail), Whole Foods Market (Food Retail), Supervalu (Food Retail), HCA Holdings (Healthcare Services), Express Scripts (Healthcare Services), Quest Diagnostics (Healthcare Services), DaVita (Healthcare Services), LabCorp (Healthcare Services), Community Health Sys (Healthcare Services), Universal Health (Healthcare Services), Cerner (Healthcare Services), Tenet Healthcare (Healthcare Services), Caterpillar (Heavy Equipment), Deere & Co (Heavy Equipment), Cummins (Heavy Equipment), Navistar Intl (Heavy Equipment), AGCO (Heavy Equipment), Joy Global (Heavy Equipment), Home Depot (Home Improvement Retail), Lowe's Cos (Home Improvement Retail), Sherwin-Williams (Home Improvement Retail), Fastenal (Home Improvement Retail), Paccar (Hotels & Motels), Starwood Hotels (Hotels & Motels), Marriott International (Hotels & Motels), Wyndham Worldwide (Hotels & Motels), Whirlpool (Household Appliance), Procter & Gamble (Household/Personal Care), Kimberly-Clark (Household/Personal Care), Colgate-Palmolive (Household/Personal Care), Stanley Black & Decker (Household/Personal Care), Estée Lauder Cos (Household/Personal Care), Mattel (Household/Personal Care), Avon Products (Household/Personal Care), Clorox (Household/Personal Care), Mead Johnson Nutrition (Household/Personal Care), Harbinger Group (Household/Personal Care), Fossil (Household/Personal Care), Aon (Insurance Brokers), Marsh & McLennan (Insurance Brokers), Ebay (Internet & Catalog Retail), Amazon.com (Internet & Catalog Retail), Liberty Interactive (Internet & Catalog Retail), Groupon (Internet & Catalog Retail), Berkshire Hathaway (Investment services), Goldman Sachs Group (Investment services), Morgan Stanley (Investment services), BlackRock (Investment services), State Street (Investment services), Ameriprise Financial (Investment services), Charles Schwab (Investment services), Principal Financial Group (Investment services), Franklin Resources (Investment services), CME Group (Investment services), Fannie Mae (Investment services), Freddie Mac (Investment services), IntercontinentalExchange (Investment services), TD Ameritrade Holding (Investment services), NYSE Euronext (Investment services), T Rowe Price (Investment services), Jefferies Group (Investment services), Nasdaq OMX Group (Investment services), E-Trade Financial (Investment services), Raymond James Financial (Investment services), Interactive Brokers Group (Investment services), Nucor (Iron & Steel), Cliffs Natural Resources (Iron & Steel), US Steel (Iron & Steel), Reliance Steel (Iron & Steel), Prudential Financial (Life & Health Insurance), Aflac (Life & Health Insurance), Lincoln National (Life & Health Insurance), Unum Group (Life & Health Insurance), Torchmark (Life & Health Insurance), CNO Financial Group (Life & Health Insurance), Protective Life (Life & Health Insurance), American Equity Investment (Life & Health Insurance), Symetra Financial (Life & Health Insurance), JPMorgan Chase (Major Banks), Wells Fargo (Major Banks), Citigroup (Major Banks), Bank of America (Major Banks), US Bancorp (Major Banks), Bank of New York Mellon (Major Banks), UnitedHealth Group (Managed Health Care), WellPoint (Managed Health Care), Aetna (Managed Health Care), Cigna (Managed Health Care), Humana (Managed Health Care), Coventry Health Care (Managed Health Care), Health Net (Managed Health Care), Johnson & Johnson (Medical Equipment & Supplies), Medtronic (Medical Equipment & Supplies), Baxter International (Medical Equipment & Supplies), Stryker (Medical Equipment & Supplies), Becton, Dickinson (Medical Equipment & Supplies), Boston Scientific (Medical Equipment & Supplies), St Jude Medical (Medical Equipment & Supplies), Zimmer Holdings (Medical Equipment & Supplies), Intuitive Surgical (Medical Equipment & Supplies), Henry Schein (Medical Equipment & Supplies), Varian Medical Systems (Medical Equipment & Supplies), CR Bard (Medical Equipment & Supplies), Sempra Energy (Natural Gas Utilities), CenterPoint Energy (Natural Gas Utilities), NiSource (Natural Gas Utilities), Exxon Mobil (Oil & Gas Operations), Chevron (Oil & Gas Operations), ConocoPhillips (Oil & Gas Operations), Occidental Petroleum (Oil & Gas Operations), Apache (Oil & Gas Operations), Valero Energy (Oil & Gas Operations), Hess (Oil & Gas Operations), Devon Energy (Oil & Gas Operations), Marathon Petroleum (Oil & Gas Operations), Marathon Oil (Oil & Gas Operations), Chesapeake Energy (Oil & Gas Operations), EOG Resources (Oil & Gas Operations), Murphy Oil (Oil & Gas Operations), Anadarko Petroleum (Oil & Gas Operations), Holly (Oil & Gas Operations), Noble Energy (Oil & Gas Operations), Pioneer Natural Resources (Oil & Gas Operations), Tesoro (Oil & Gas Operations), Sunoco (Oil & Gas Operations), Southwestern Energy (Oil & Gas Operations), Denbury Resources (Oil & Gas Operations), Continental Resources (Oil & Gas Operations), Concho Resources (Oil & Gas Operations), Cimarex Energy (Oil & Gas Operations), Whiting Petroleum (Oil & Gas Operations), Newfield Exploration (Oil & Gas Operations), Rowan Cos (Oil & Gas Operations), Cobalt International Energy (Oil & Gas Operations), Halliburton (Oil Services & Equipment), National Oilwell Varco (Oil Services & Equipment), Baker Hughes (Oil Services & Equipment), Kinder Morgan (Oil Services & Equipment), Spectra Energy (Oil Services & Equipment), Williams Cos (Oil Services & Equipment), Oneok (Oil Services & Equipment), Cameron International (Oil Services & Equipment), El Paso (Oil Services & Equipment), FMC Technologies (Oil Services & Equipment), EQT (Oil Services & Equipment), Helmerich & Payne (Oil Services & Equipment), Illinois Tool Works (Other Industrial Equipment), Eaton (Other Industrial Equipment), Parker-Hannifin (Other Industrial Equipment), Rockwell Automation (Other Industrial Equipment), Roper Industries (Other Industrial Equipment), Flowserve (Other Industrial Equipment), CH Robinson Worldwide (Other Transportation), International Paper (Paper & Paper Products), Timken (Paper & Paper Products), MeadWestvaco (Paper & Paper Products), Pfizer (Pharmaceuticals), Merck & Co (Pharmaceuticals), Abbott Laboratories (Pharmaceuticals), Eli Lilly & Co (Pharmaceuticals), Bristol-Myers Squibb (Pharmaceuticals), McKesson (Pharmaceuticals), Cardinal Health (Pharmaceuticals), AmerisourceBergen (Pharmaceuticals), Allergan (Pharmaceuticals), Mylan (Pharmaceuticals), Forest Labs (Pharmaceuticals), Perrigo (Pharmaceuticals), Watson Pharmaceuticals (Pharmaceuticals), Thermo Fisher Scientific (Precision Healthcare Equipment), Waters (Precision Healthcare Equipment), Pall (Precision Healthcare Equipment), McGraw-Hill Cos (Printing & Publishing), RR Donnelley & Sons (Printing & Publishing), Gannett (Printing & Publishing), Travelers Cos (Property & Casualty Insurance), Chubb (Property & Casualty Insurance), Progressive (Property & Casualty Insurance), WR Berkley (Property & Casualty Insurance), Ambac Financial Group (Property & Casualty Insurance), Union Pacific (Railroads), CSX (Railroads), Norfolk Southern (Railroads), Kansas City Southern (Railroads), Simon Property Group (Real Estate), American Capital Agency Corp. (Real Estate), Equity Residential (Real Estate), Annaly Capital Management (Real Estate), Vornado Realty (Real Estate), HCP (Real Estate), Public Storage (Real Estate), Weyerhaeuser (Real Estate), Ventas (Real Estate), American Tower (Real Estate), General Growth Properties (Real Estate), Prologis (Real Estate), SL Green Realty (Real Estate), Boston Properties (Real Estate), Host Hotels & Resorts (Real Estate), Avalonbay Communities (Real Estate), Health Care REIT (Real Estate), CBRE Group (Real Estate), Chimera Investment (Real Estate), Kimco Realty (Real Estate), Harley-Davidson (Recreational Products), PNC Financial Services (Regional Banks), BB&T (Regional Banks), Fifth Third Bancorp (Regional Banks), SunTrust Banks (Regional Banks), M&T Bank (Regional Banks), KeyCorp (Regional Banks), Northern Trust (Regional Banks), Regions Financial (Regional Banks), Huntington Bancshares (Regional Banks), Comerica (Regional Banks), Zions Bancorp (Regional Banks), First Republic Bank CA (Regional Banks), BOK Financial (Regional Banks), Popular (Regional Banks), Synovus Financial (Regional Banks), Hatteras Financial (Regional Banks), First Horizon National (Regional Banks), Commerce Bancshares (Regional Banks), City National (Regional Banks), Hertz Global Holdings (Rental & Leasing), Avis Budget Group (Rental & Leasing), McDonald's (Restaurants), Yum Brands (Restaurants), Starbucks (Restaurants), Darden Restaurants (Restaurants), Chipotle Mexican Grill (Restaurants), Intel (Semiconductors), Texas Instruments (Semiconductors), Applied Materials (Semiconductors), Broadcom (Semiconductors), Micron Technology (Semiconductors), Altera (Semiconductors), Analog Devices (Semiconductors), KLA-Tencor (Semiconductors), Nvidia (Semiconductors), Advanced Micro Devices (Semiconductors), Xilinx (Semiconductors), Maxim Integrated Products (Semiconductors), Linear Technology (Semiconductors), Microchip Technology (Semiconductors), Microsoft (Software & Programming), Oracle (Software & Programming), Symantec (Software & Programming), CA (Software & Programming), VMware (Software & Programming), Adobe Systems (Software & Programming), Intuit (Software & Programming), Citrix Systems (Software & Programming), Salesforce.com (Software & Programming), BMC Software (Software & Programming), Autodesk (Software & Programming), Monsanto (Specialized Chemicals), Praxair (Specialized Chemicals), Mosaic (Specialized Chemicals), Air Products & Chemicals (Specialized Chemicals), Ecolab (Specialized Chemicals), CF Industries Holdings (Specialized Chemicals), Eastman Chemical (Specialized Chemicals), Ashland (Specialized Chemicals), Sigma-Aldrich (Specialized Chemicals), FMC (Specialized Chemicals), Albemarle (Specialized Chemicals), Airgas (Specialized Chemicals), Staples (Specialty Stores), Bed Bath & Beyond (Specialty Stores), AutoZone (Specialty Stores), Genuine Parts (Specialty Stores), CarMax (Specialty Stores), O'Reilly Automotive (Specialty Stores), Advance Auto Parts (Specialty Stores), AutoNation (Specialty Stores), Tiffany & Co (Specialty Stores), Petsmart (Specialty Stores), Penske Automotive (Specialty Stores), Office Depot (Specialty Stores), AT&T (Telecommunications Services), Verizon Communications (Telecommunications Services), CenturyLink (Telecommunications Services), Sprint Nextel (Telecommunications services), Virgin Media (Telecommunications services), Crown Castle International (Telecommunications services), Windstream (Telecommunications services), Frontier Communications (Telecommunications services), Level 3 Communications (Telecommunications services), New York Community (Thrifts & Mortgage Finance), People's United Financial (Thrifts & Mortgage Finance), First Niagara Financial (Thrifts & Mortgage Finance), Philip Morris International (Tobacco), Altria Group (Tobacco), Reynolds American (Tobacco), Lorillard (Tobacco) (2012)
US$ -509.9 billion (2011 estimate)(After 2008)
-3.3% of GDP (2011 estimate)(2009)
12.6% (2010)
(Data released on April 2012)
8.11%(2007)
(Data were released in 2012 and refer to 2011)
13.93% (2011)(2007)
(Data were released in 2012)
agricultural products (soybeans, fruit, corn) 9.2%, industrial supplies (organic chemicals) 26.8%, capital goods (transistors, aircraft, motor vehicle parts, computers, telecommunications equipment) 49.0%, consumer goods (automobiles, medicines) 15.0%
agricultural products 4.9%, industrial supplies 32.9% (crude oil 8.2%), capital goods 30.4% (computers, telecommunications equipment, motor vehicle parts, office machines, electric power machinery), consumer goods 31.8% (automobiles, clothing, medicines, furniture, toys)
Canada 19%, Mexico 13.3%, China 7%, Japan 4.5% (2011)
China 18.4%, Canada 14.2%, Mexico 11.7%, Japan 5.8%, Germany 4.4% (2011)
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | |
| US$143,604 million | US$197,905 million(2009) | US$226,937 million(2009) |
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | |
| US$266,955 million | US$304,399 million | US$396,656 million |
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
| US$70,173 million | US$23,760 million(2009) | US$87,353 million(2009) | US$130,210 million |
Kraft Foods Inc, Cadbury PLC, United Kingdom, $18.8 billion
PPL Corp, E.ON US LLC, United States, $7.6 billion
Abbott Laboratories, Solvay Pharmaceuticals SA, Belgium, $7.6 billion
Sheffield Acquisition Corp, Sybase Inc, United States, $6 billion
Liberty Media Corp, Unitymedia GmbH, Germany, $5.2 billion
Ruby Acquisition Inc, OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc, United States, $4 billion
Abbott Laboratories, Piramal Healthcare Ltd, India, $3.7 billion
Cisco Systems Inc, Tandberg ASA, Norway, $3.4 billion
Interactive Data Corp SPV, Interactive Data Corp, United States, $3.3 billion
Apache Corp, BP PLC, Canada, $3.3 billion
Phillips-Van Heusen Corp, Tommy Hilfiger Corp, Netherlands, $3.2 billion
Apache Corp, BP PLC-Permian Basin Assets, United States, $3.1 billion
Investor group, RBS WorldPay, United Kingdom, $3 billion
(for a monthly update on M&A; click here )
Blackstone Group LP, CNPR Ltd, Australia, $9.4 billion
Microsoft Corp, Skype Global Sarl, Luxembourg, $8.5 billion
DuPont, Danisco A/S, Denmark, $7.2 billion
PPL Corp, E ON AG, Germany, $6.5 billion
Peabody Energy Corp, Macarthur Coal Ltd, Australia, $4.9 billion
Prudential Financial Inc, AIG, United States, $4.8 billion
Liberty Global Inc, EQT Partners BV, Sweden, $4.5 billion
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc, Consolidated Thompson Iron, Canada, $4.4 billion
PepsiCo Inc, VBD PP, Russian Federation, $3.8 billion
GE, Vivendi SA, France, $3.8 billion
Citigroup Inc, Terra Firma Capital Partners, United Kingdom, $3.5 billion
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, Cinven Ltd, United Kingdom, $3.5 billion
Investor Group, EQT Partners BV, Sweden, $3.4 billion
GE, Converteam Group SAS, France, $3.2 billion
Investor Group, SPIE SA, France, $3 billion
Level 3 Communications Inc, Singapore Technologies Pte Ltd, Singapore, $3 billion(2008 estimate)
(for a monthly update on M&A; click here )
Overall ranking: 4 out of 185 countries(2009) (2013)
Subcategories:
Starting a business: 13 out of 185 countries(2009)
Enforcing Contracts: 6 out of 185 countries
Registering Property: 25 out of 185 countries
Getting credit: 4 out of 185 countries
Protecting investors: 6 out of 185 countries
Trading across border: 22 out of 185 countries
Paying Taxes: 69 out of 185 countries
Dealing with Construction Permits: 17 out of 185 countries
Getting Electricity: 19 out of 185 countries
Resolving Insolvency: 16 out of 185 countries
(2013)
7
(2012)
Ranking: 10 Score: 76.3 (Mostly Free) (2009)
(100=totally free 0=totally repressed )
UTC-5 (Eastern Standard Time - EST)
UTC-6 (Central Standard Time - CST)
UTC-7 (Mountain Standard Time - MST)
UTC-8 (Pacific Standard Time - PST)
Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition (2009)
English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census)
Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 estimate)
| 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2012* | 2017** |
| 227.62 million | 250.05 million | 282.29 million | 314.31 million | 329.55 million |
*Estimate **Forecast
| 1960 | 1980 | 2000 | 2011 |
| 70% | 73.7% | 79.1% | 82.4% |
40.81 (2000)
(Data were released in 2011, 0=perfect equality, 100=absolute inequality)
Political Rights:1
Civil Liberties:1 (2011)
(1 represents the most free, 7 the least free)
153.82% (2011)
(sum of fixed telephone lines and mobile cellular subscribers)
77.86% (Data were released in 2012 and refer to 2011)
Washington, DC: 108th (2011)
17.2239 (Data were released in 2012 and refer to 2009)
