Happy Birthday, Canada! Today, you celebrate your 147th birthday!

And, America, your birthday is only a few short days away on July 4th, where you’ll be celebrating your 238th birthday!

	Canada	U.S.A.
Founded	July 1, 1867	July 4, 1776
Flag	adopted on Feb. 15, 1965	adopted on Jul. 4, 1960
Flag Symbolism	•   Red is the symbol of Canadian sacrifice during World Wars. White is the symbol of peace and tranquility, reflecting neutrality and impartiality of Canadians. •   Maple leaf began to serve as a Canadian symbol as early as 1700. •   The Canadian flag is sometimes referred to as the Maple Leaf flag or, in French, as L’Unifolié, which means “one-leafed”.	•   50 stars represent U.S.A.’s 50 states and the 13 stripes represent the 13 British colonies that declared independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain and became the first states in the Union. •   Nicknames for the flag include the “Stars and Stripes”, “Old Glory”, and “The Star-Spangled Banner”.
National Anthem	O Canada	The Star-Spangled Banner
National Day	Canada Day (July 1st)	Independence Day (July 4th)
Official Languages	English French	English
System of Measurements	Metric Units	Customary Units (virtually identical to the British Imperial units with some differences)
Continent	North American	North American
Coordinates	62.2270° N, 105.3809° W	40.0000° N, 100.0000° W
Regions	•   10 provinces •   3 territories	•   50 states •   1 federal district (District of Columbia – Washington, D.C) •   5 territories with commonwealth status
Population	35 million	317 million
Land Area	10 million sq. km. / 3.85 million sq. miles	9.6 million sq. km. / 3.7 million sq. miles
Annual GDP	1,825,096 Million $	16,803,000 Million $
Kind of Government	•   Constitutional Monarchy •   Federal (Federation) •   Parliamentary Democracy	•   Constitutional •   Federal (Federation) •   Presidential •   Republic
Federal Capital	Ottawa, ON	Washingon, D.C.
Elected Federal Government Official	Canadian Prime Minister: – 1st: Sir John A. Macdonald (1867) – Current: Stephen Harper	U.S. President: – 1st: George Washington (1789) – Current: Barack Obama

Wishing you happy and safe national celebrations!

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Related articles:
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  •   Silicon Valley Loonies: Canadian and U.S. Statutory Holidays
  •   Country Economy: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 2014
  •   Country Facts: Government, Economy, Demographics, Education
  •   Wikipedia: History of Canada | Languages of Canada
  •   Statistics Canada (StatCan)
  •   Wikipedia: History of United States | Languages of United States
  •   United States Census Bureau
  •   World Atlas: All Countries of the World Listed by Land Area