North America.

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With illegal immigration a major issue in the U.S., there is pressure to tighten security on the 2,000-mile border with Mexico. About 7 million of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States are from Mexico.

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Another reason border security is a concern is the drug violence from northern Mexico that has spilled over into border states on the U.S. side: California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

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The United States is trying to help Haiti recover from a devastating earthquake in January 2010, which killed 250,000 people, left 1 million homeless, and leveled the capital, Port-au-Prince.

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Melting ice sheets and glaciers in the Arctic regions of northern Canada are thought to be the result of global warming. How to respond to climate change is a topic of intense debate in the United States.

Sources:

For area, population, urban population, annual population increase, percentage of population under 15, and life expectancy: 2010 World Population Data Sheet (Population Reference Bureau)

For capital, major languages, date of origin, literacy rate, and per capita GDP: The World Factbook 2010 (C.I.A.)

For political systems: Based on information from Freedom in the World, an annual publication of Freedom House (a nonprofit human-rights organization) and its website (freedomhouse.org); news accounts; World Book Encyclopedia; the U.S. State Department and its website (state.gov); and BBC News country profiles

For heads of government: Based on information from the GeoCities "Rulers" website (rulers.org), the State Department and its website, The World Factbook 2010, and news accounts

For HDI: Human Development Report 2009 (United Nations Development Program)

For Kosovo: World Book Encyclopedia, The World Factbook 2010, and the State Department website

All figures are the latest available from each source for each country. All information is as of October 18, 2010.

North America (includes Central America and the Caribbean) URBAN AREA (SQ MI) POP. % POP. RISE COUNTRY POPULATION %/YEAR CAPITAL Antigua and 170 31 St. John's Barbuda 100,000 0.9 Bahamas 5,359 83 Nassau 300,000 0.9 Barbados 166 38 Bridgetown 300,000 0.5 Belize 8,865 51 Belmopan 300,000 2.3 Canada 3,849,670 80 Ottawa 34,100,000 0.4 Costa Rica 19,730 59 San Jose 4,600,000 1.3 Cuba 42,803 75 Havana 11,200,000 0.3 Dominica 290 73 Roseau 100,000 0.7 Dominican 18,815 67...