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everything you know about north America 1)minerals 2)population 3)transportation

Population
North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers (9,540,000 square miles), about 4.8% of the planet's surface or about 16.5% of its land area. As of July 2008, its population was estimated at nearly 529 million people across 23 independent states, representing about 7.5% of the human population. Most of the continent's land area is dominated by Canada, the United States, and Mexico, while smaller states exist in the Central American and Caribbean regions. North America is the third-largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Energy and Mineral Resources

North America has large deposits of mineral resources, particularly petroleum and natural gas. These resources can be found in large areas of Alaska, Canada, the southern and western United States and eastern Mexico. North America consumes vast quantities of energy and relies heavily on the production of petroleum and natural gas.

Canada depends more on hydroelectricity then the other countries, however also makes use of large quantities of petroleum and natural gas. In 1999 Canada was the fifth-largest energy producer in the world behind the United States, Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia. During the 1970's and 1980's Mexico's energy production surged and in 2000, Mexico produced about 3.5 million barrels per day of oil, with net oil exports of roughly 1.5 million barrels per day.

The United States makes use of an enormous amount of energy, more than the country's domestic output of coal, petroleum, natural gas, and hydroelectric and nuclear power, so imports of petroleum and natural gas are needed.

During 2000, the United States produced around 8.1 million barrels of oil per day, of which 5.83 MMBD was crude oil, and the rest natural gas liquids and other liquids. The United States imported an estimated 11.1 MMBD of oil (crude and products) during 2000, representing around 57% of total U.S oil demand.
Transportation

North America contains a varied transportation system, whose quality ranges from being on par with a high-quality European motorway to an unpaved graveled back road that can extend hundreds of miles. There is also an extensive transcontinental freight rail network, but passenger railway ridership is lower than in Europe and Asia.


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