The Fire Computer

Comparison record/Canada · United States/Layer 1 — reported values · ranks computed/Built 2026-08-13

Canada, compared.

Thirty published measures, both countries, each in the most recent year both of them reported — and each ranked against every economy that reported in that same year. The count is printed beside every rank, because 41 countries reported one of these and 217 reported another, and a rank without its denominator is a rumour.

Canada
United States

Money and work

The gap everyone argues about, and the four numbers underneath it.

GDP per person2025 · current US$

$55,69821st of 186
$90,0277th of 186

GDP per person, price-adjusted2025 · current international $

$66,74624th of 185
$90,02710th of 185

The whole economy2025 · current US$

$2.32T10th of 186
$30.77T1st of 186

Investment2024 · % of GDP

22.9%75th of 165
21.3%92nd of 165

Income inequality, Gini2022 · 0 to 100

31.550th of 73
41.712th of 73

Unemployment2025 · % of labour force

6.9%58th of 182
4.2%113th of 182

Labour force participation2025 · % of ages 15+

64.5%68th of 182
61.7%91st of 182

Health

The place where the two countries are furthest apart, in both directions at once.

Life expectancy at birth2024 · years

82.134th of 217
78.961st of 217

Health spending per person2023 · current US$

$6,18715th of 191
$13,4731st of 191

Health spending2023 · % of GDP

11.2%13th of 192
16.7%3rd of 192

Physicians2022 · per 1,000 people

2.8155th of 125
3.6831st of 125

Infant mortality2024 · per 1,000 live births

4.7148th of 196
5.5143rd of 196

Suicide2021 · per 100,000 people

9.460th of 185
15.624th of 185

Intentional homicide2023 · per 100,000 people

1.9842nd of 83
5.7629th of 83

People

One country is nine times the other. Almost everything else here is per person for that reason.

Population2025 · people

41,651,65338th of 217
341,784,8573rd of 217

Births per woman2024 · over a lifetime

1.25192nd of 217
1.63133rd of 217

Net migration2025 · people

326,2045th of 217
1,230,6632nd of 217

Population density2023 · people per km²

4.6206th of 215
36.8165th of 215

Bachelor’s degree or higher2024 · % of ages 25+

34.7%8th of 41
39.1%3rd of 41

Internet users2024 · % of population

94.4%33rd of 182
94.7%29th of 182

Land and energy

The one group where the two countries are close in size, and the one where Canada is above the United States on the measure it would rather not be.

Land area2023 · km², excluding lakes

8,788,7004th of 215
9,147,4203rd of 215

Forest2023 · km²

3,468,1713rd of 213
3,097,9504th of 213

Renewable fresh water per person2022 · cubic metres

73,1706th of 181
8,43754th of 181

Electricity from renewables2021 · % of output

67.0%41st of 204
20.3%112th of 204

CO₂ per person2024 · tonnes

14.0113th of 203
13.6215th of 203

Energy use per person2024 · kg of oil equivalent

7,1612nd of 41
6,3613rd of 41

Trade and invention

Canada sells three times as much of itself abroad and files two per cent as many patents.

Exports2024 · % of GDP

32.5%95th of 172
11.0%161st of 172

High-technology exports2024 · % of manufactured exports

16.8%40th of 125
24.3%20th of 125

Research and development2023 · % of GDP

1.81%22nd of 84
3.45%5th of 84

Patent applications by residents2021 · applications

4,71013th of 113
262,2442nd of 113
The health rows are the ones to read twice. The United States spends more on health per person than any of the 191 economies that reported in 2023 — $13,473, first — and records a life expectancy of 78.9 years, 61st of 217. Canada spends $6,187, 15th, and records 82.1 years, 34th. That is 2.2 times the spending and 3.2 fewer years. Both facts are on this page. The page does not say why, because the record does not.
Two rows Canada does not come out of well. Canada emits 14.01 tonnes of CO₂ per person, 13th of 203 — above the United States at 13.62. And Canadian women have 1.25 children over a lifetime, 192nd of 217: only 25 economies on earth reported fewer. Neither number is here to balance the page. They are here because they are in the series, and a comparison that only printed the flattering rows would be an advertisement.

Every measure, sortable

The same thirty rows as a table. Below CAN is the share of that year’s reporting economies with a value lower than Canada’s — the only column here that is comparable across rows, since 8th of 41 and 34th of 217 are not the same standing. It carries no direction: a high share on CO₂ per person and a high share on life expectancy mean opposite things. The two value columns do not sort, because a column holding dollars, years, percentages and square kilometres has no order to be put in.

Measure Year Canada United States Rank
CAN		 Rank
USA		 Of Below
CAN		 Highest
GDP per person 2025 $55,698 $90,027 21 7 186 89% Luxembourg
GDP per person, price-adjusted 2025 $66,746 $90,027 24 10 185 88% Singapore
The whole economy 2025 $2.32T $30.77T 10 1 186 95% United States
Investment 2024 22.9% 21.3% 75 92 165 55% Bhutan
Income inequality, Gini 2022 31.5 41.7 50 12 73 32% Colombia
Unemployment 2025 6.9% 4.2% 58 113 182 69% Eswatini
Labour force participation 2025 64.5% 61.7% 68 91 182 63% Qatar
Life expectancy at birth 2024 82.1 78.9 34 61 217 85% Monaco
Health spending per person 2023 $6,187 $13,473 15 1 191 93% United States
Health spending 2023 11.2% 16.7% 13 3 192 94% Tuvalu
Physicians 2022 2.81 3.68 55 31 125 56% Seychelles
Infant mortality 2024 4.7 5.5 148 143 196 25% South Sudan
Suicide 2021 9.4 15.6 60 24 185 68% Lesotho
Intentional homicide 2023 1.98 5.76 42 29 83 50% St. Kitts and Nevis
Population 2025 41,651,653 341,784,857 38 3 217 83% India
Births per woman 2024 1.25 1.63 192 133 217 12% Chad
Net migration 2025 326,204 1,230,663 5 2 217 98% Ukraine
Population density 2023 4.6 36.8 206 165 215 4% Macao SAR, China
Bachelor’s degree or higher 2024 34.7% 39.1% 8 3 41 83% United Arab Emirates
Internet users 2024 94.4% 94.7% 33 29 182 82% Bahrain
Land area 2023 8,788,700 9,147,420 4 3 215 99% Russian Federation
Forest 2023 3,468,171 3,097,950 3 4 213 99% Russian Federation
Renewable fresh water per person 2022 73,170 8,437 6 54 181 97% Iceland
Electricity from renewables 2021 67.0% 20.3% 41 112 204 80% Bhutan
CO₂ per person 2024 14.01 13.62 13 15 203 94% Palau
Energy use per person 2024 7,161 6,361 2 3 41 98% Iceland
Exports 2024 32.5% 11.0% 95 161 172 45% Luxembourg
High-technology exports 2024 16.8% 24.3% 40 20 125 69% Cayman Islands
Research and development 2023 1.81% 3.45% 22 5 84 75% Israel
Patent applications by residents 2021 4,710 262,244 13 2 113 89% China
Highest is the economy with the largest value that year. Largest is not best on any of these rows and is plainly the worst on several; the column is the top of a list and nothing more.
Canada is the second-largest country and the fourth-largest landmass. Both are true, and the difference between them is water. Total area counts lakes and rivers; land area does not. Canada’s 8,788,700 km² of land is smaller than the United States’ 9,147,420 km², and the ordering only reverses when roughly 1,196,000 km² of Canadian fresh water is added back to reach the 9,984,670 km² total Canada states for itself. This page uses land area, which every country reports on the same basis. It does not use the FAO surface-area series, which puts Canada at 15,634,410 km² — 5,649,740 km² more than Canada’s own total area — because that series counts, in the World Bank’s words, “some coastal waterways”, and Canada and Norway are the two places where those waters swallow the land. The Fire’s own splash page says “second only in landmass.” Under total area that is right. Under land area it is fourth. The record notes both.

Method

Source. Every figure comes from the World Bank Indicators API, which is public, free and needs no key. Nothing here is estimated, adjusted or re-based by this page.

The year is per row. Canada and the United States report on different schedules. Each row resolves to the most recent year in which both reported, and ranks inside that year only — so a 2021 row is never compared against a 2025 one. That rule has to satisfy only two countries, so it can land on a year in which the rest of the world had barely filed. Where Canada stands ranks against the whole field instead of one neighbour and cannot afford that, so it throws out any year carrying fewer than 60 reporting economies. Two rows here would fail it — bachelor’s degree or higher and energy use per person — and their ranks are ranks against whoever had reported by then.

Rank is position by size, highest first, always. It is never flipped to make a number read as an achievement. Ties take the same rank and the next rank is skipped.

Ranked against economies, not aggregates. The World Bank returns “World”, “the euro area” and about forty other groupings alongside countries, carrying country-shaped codes. They are excluded here by the Bank’s own region field, leaving 217 economies. Leaving them in would push every country on this page down by as many places as there were aggregates above it.

Dollars are US dollars. The Bank publishes in current US$, so Canada’s GDP per person here is $55,698 American, not Canadian. The price-adjusted row is the one to use for what a Canadian income actually buys.

Denominators vary a lot. Population and life expectancy have 217 reporting economies; the thinnest row here has 41. A high rank in a thin field is a smaller claim, which is why the count is never printed apart from the rank it belongs to.

Flags are the flag-icons set, MIT, vendored into this site unmodified. Like every other asset here they are served from this domain; the page makes no request to anyone else.

Sources

Indicator code, the Bank’s own name for it, the year this page resolved to, and how many economies reported that year. Indicator vintage: 2026-07-13.

  • GDP per person — NY.GDP.PCAP.CD, “GDP per capita (current US$)”, 2025, 186 economies reporting.
  • GDP per person, price-adjusted — NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD, “GDP per capita, PPP (current international $)”, 2025, 185 economies reporting.
  • The whole economy — NY.GDP.MKTP.CD, “GDP (current US$)”, 2025, 186 economies reporting.
  • Investment — NE.GDI.FTOT.ZS, “Gross fixed capital formation (% of GDP)”, 2024, 165 economies reporting.
  • Income inequality, Gini — SI.POV.GINI, “Gini index”, 2022, 73 economies reporting.
  • Unemployment — SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS, “Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (modeled ILO estimate)”, 2025, 182 economies reporting.
  • Labour force participation — SL.TLF.CACT.ZS, “Labor force participation rate, total (% of total population ages 15+) (modeled ILO estimate)”, 2025, 182 economies reporting.
  • Life expectancy at birth — SP.DYN.LE00.IN, “Life expectancy at birth, total (years)”, 2024, 217 economies reporting.
  • Health spending per person — SH.XPD.CHEX.PC.CD, “Current health expenditure per capita (current US$)”, 2023, 191 economies reporting.
  • Health spending — SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS, “Current health expenditure (% of GDP)”, 2023, 192 economies reporting.
  • Physicians — SH.MED.PHYS.ZS, “Physicians (per 1,000 people)”, 2022, 125 economies reporting.
  • Infant mortality — SP.DYN.IMRT.IN, “Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births)”, 2024, 196 economies reporting.
  • Suicide — SH.STA.SUIC.P5, “Suicide mortality rate (per 100,000 population)”, 2021, 185 economies reporting.
  • Intentional homicide — VC.IHR.PSRC.P5, “Intentional homicides (per 100,000 people)”, 2023, 83 economies reporting.
  • Population — SP.POP.TOTL, “Population, total”, 2025, 217 economies reporting.
  • Births per woman — SP.DYN.TFRT.IN, “Fertility rate, total (births per woman)”, 2024, 217 economies reporting.
  • Net migration — SM.POP.NETM, “Net migration”, 2025, 217 economies reporting.
  • Population density — EN.POP.DNST, “Population density (people per sq. km of land area)”, 2023, 215 economies reporting.
  • Bachelor’s degree or higher — SE.TER.CUAT.BA.ZS, “Educational attainment, at least Bachelor's or equivalent, population 25+, total (%) (cumulative)”, 2024, 41 economies reporting.
  • Internet users — IT.NET.USER.ZS, “Individuals using the Internet (% of population)”, 2024, 182 economies reporting.
  • Land area — AG.LND.TOTL.K2, “Land area (sq. km)”, 2023, 215 economies reporting.
  • Forest — AG.LND.FRST.K2, “Forest area (sq. km)”, 2023, 213 economies reporting.
  • Renewable fresh water per person — ER.H2O.INTR.PC, “Renewable internal freshwater resources per capita (cubic meters)”, 2022, 181 economies reporting.
  • Electricity from renewables — EG.ELC.RNEW.ZS, “Renewable electricity output (% of total electricity output)”, 2021, 204 economies reporting.
  • CO₂ per person — EN.GHG.CO2.PC.CE.AR5, “Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions excluding LULUCF per capita (t CO2e/capita)”, 2024, 203 economies reporting.
  • Energy use per person — EG.USE.PCAP.KG.OE, “Energy use (kg of oil equivalent per capita)”, 2024, 41 economies reporting.
  • Exports — NE.EXP.GNFS.ZS, “Exports of goods and services (% of GDP)”, 2024, 172 economies reporting.
  • High-technology exports — TX.VAL.TECH.MF.ZS, “High-technology exports (% of manufactured exports)”, 2024, 125 economies reporting.
  • Research and development — GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS, “Research and development expenditure (% of GDP)”, 2023, 84 economies reporting.
  • Patent applications by residents — IP.PAT.RESD, “Patent applications, residents”, 2021, 113 economies reporting.