Canada

Canada
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: A mari usque ad mare (Latin) "From Sea to Sea"
Anthem: "O Canada" Royal anthem: "God Save the King"[1]
Capital	Ottawa 45°24′N 75°40′W / 45.400°N 75.667°W / 45.400; -75.667
Largest city	Toronto
Official languages	English French
Ethnic groups (2016)[2]	List of ethnicities 72.9% European 17.7% Asian 4.9% Indigenous 3.1% African 1.3% Latin American 0.2% Oceanian
Religion (2011)[3]	List of religions 67.2% Christianity 23.9% No religion 3.2% Islam 1.5% Hinduism 1.4% Sikhism 1.1% Buddhism 1.0% Judaism 0.6% Other
Demonym(s)	Canadian
Government	Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy[4]
• Monarch	Charles III
• Governor General	Mary Simon
• Prime Minister	Justin Trudeau
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	House of Commons
Independence  from the United Kingdom
• Confederation	July 1, 1867
• Statute of Westminster	December 11, 1931
• Patriation	April 17, 1982
Area
• Total area	9,984,670 km2 (3,855,100 sq mi) (2nd)
• Water (%)	11.76 (as of 2015)[5]
• Total land area	9,093,507 km2 (3,511,023 sq mi)
Population
• Q1 2021 estimate	38,131,104 [6] (37th)
• 2016 census	35,151,728[7]
• Density	3.92/km2 (10.2/sq mi) (185th)
GDP (PPP)	2021 estimate
• Total	$1.979 trillion[8] (15th)
• Per capita	$51,713[8] (20th)
GDP (nominal)	2021 estimate
• Total	$1.883 trillion[8] (9th)
• Per capita	$49,222[8] (18th)
Gini (2018)	30.3[9] medium
HDI (2019)	0.929[10] very high · 16th
Currency	Canadian dollar ($) (CAD)
Time zone	UTC−3.5 to −8
• Summer (DST)	UTC−2.5 to −7
Date format	yyyy-mm-dd (AD)[11]
Driving side	right
Calling code	+1
ISO 3166 code	CA
Internet TLD	.ca

Canada is a country in North America. Its land reaches from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. The Arctic Ocean is to the north of Canada. Canada's land area is 9.98 million square kilometres (3.85 million square miles). It is the world's second largest country by total area, but only the fourth largest country by land area. It has the world's longest coastline (a border with water). Canada has ten provinces and three territories. Most parts of the country are cold or severely cold in the winter. Areas in the south of Canada are warm in the summer. Much of the land is covered in forest or tundra. Most of the people in Canada live in urban areas, near the southern border with the US. This border is the longest between any two countries in the world. The national capital is Ottawa, and the largest city is Toronto. Other large cities include Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg and Hamilton.

The name "Canada" comes from the Huron-Iroquois word "Kanata," meaning "village" or "settlement." In 1535, two Aboriginal youths told an explorer from France, named Jacques Cartier, about the route to Kanata. They were actually referring to the village named Stadacona, which is near present-day city of Québec.

Aboriginal people lived in the places (that are now Canada) for a long time. In 1537, the French started a colony. The British Empire soon followed. The two empires fought several wars. In the late 18th century, only British North America remained with what is more or less Canada today. The country was formed from several colonies with the British North America Act on July 1, 1867. Over time, more provinces and territories became part of Canada. In 1931, Canada achieved nearly total independence with the Statute of Westminster 1931, and became completely independent when the Canada Act 1982 removed the last remaining ties of legal dependence with the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Canada is a federal parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with King Charles III as its head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level. That means that citizens have the right to communicate with the government in two languages: English or French. Immigration to Canada has made it one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations. Its economy is the eleventh largest in the world, and relies mainly on natural resources and well-developed international trade networks. Canada's relationship with its neighbor and biggest trading partner, the U.S., has a big impact on its economy and culture.

Canada is a developed country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the sixteenth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, and education. Canada is a Commonwealth realm member of the Commonwealth of Nations, a member of the Francophonie, and part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the G7, the G20, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

1. ↑ "Royal Anthem". Government of Canada. August 11, 2017. Archived from the original on December 6, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
2. ↑ "2016 Census of Population—Ethnic Origin, Catalog no. 98-400-X2016187". Statistics Canada. October 25, 2017. Archived from the original on October 26, 2017.
3. ↑ "2011 National Household Survey". Statistics Canada. May 8, 2013. Archived from the original on May 15, 2013.
4. ↑ Dowding, Keith; Dumont, Patrick (2014). The Selection of Ministers around the World. Taylor & Francis. p. 395. ISBN 978-1-317-63444-7.
5. ↑ "Surface water and surface water change". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Archived from the original on March 24, 2021. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
6. ↑ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (June 17, 2021). "The Daily — Canada's population estimates, first quarter 2021". www150.statcan.gc.ca. Archived from the original on August 19, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
7. ↑ "Population size and growth in Canada: Key results from the 2016 Census". Statistics Canada. February 8, 2017. Archived from the original on February 10, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3} "World Economic Outlook Database". International Monetary Fund. April 2021. Archived from the original on April 12, 2021. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
9. ↑ "Income inequality". OECD. Archived from the original on February 6, 2020. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
10. ↑ "Human Development Report 2020" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 15, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
11. ↑ The Government of Canada and Standards Council of Canada prescribe ISO 8601 as the country's official all-numeric date format: Public Works and Government Services Canada Translation Bureau (1997). "5.14: Dates". The Canadian style: A guide to writing and editing (Revised ed.). Dundurn Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-55002-276-6. The dd/mm/yy and mm/dd/yy formats also remain in common use; see Date and time notation in Canada.