Anglo-America
Anglo-America refers to the regions of North America, primarily the United States and Canada, where English cultural influences predominate as a result of settlement by English-speaking migrants.[1] This cultural entity formed through four major waves of British migration between 1629 and 1775, including Puritans from East Anglia to New England, Cavaliers and indentured servants from southern England to Virginia, Quakers from the North Midlands and Wales to the Delaware Valley, and Scots-Irish borderlanders to the Appalachian backcountry.[1] These groups established diverse yet interconnected folkways—ranging from Puritan emphasis on communal self-governance and public order in the Northeast, to hierarchical liberty and agrarian hierarchies in the Tidewater South, reciprocal egalitarianism in the Quaker Midlands, and natural liberty with clannish individualism in the Borderlands—that laid the groundwork for Anglo-America's political traditions of limited government, personal rights, and decentralized authority.[1] The region's defining characteristics include the widespread adoption of English common law, Protestant work ethic derivatives, and entrepreneurial capitalism, which fostered innovations in industry, science, and governance that positioned Anglo-America as a driver of global modernization and economic expansion since the 19th century.[2][1] Notable achievements encompass the establishment of stable constitutional democracies, leadership in technological revolutions from steam power to the digital age, and the projection of cultural soft power through language and media, though these successes have been intertwined with historical controversies such as the institution of chattel slavery in southern variants and expansive territorial conquests.[1]Definition and Scope
Core Components
The core components of Anglo-America are the United States and Canada, the two largest sovereign states in North America where English is the dominant language and cultural institutions trace primarily to British origins. These nations together span approximately 19.8 million square kilometers of land area and house over 380 million people as of 2024, representing the demographic and territorial heart of the region.[3][4] The United States, established through British colonial settlements beginning in the 17th century, encompasses all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with English spoken by about 80% of its 341 million residents as a first language. Canada forms the northern counterpart, with its ten provinces and three territories predominantly English-speaking outside of Quebec, where French predominates and cultural ties align more closely with francophone regions. English is the mother tongue for roughly 56% of Canada's 40 million inhabitants, while bilingualism is common in areas bordering Quebec. This exclusion of Quebec in definitional scopes underscores Anglo-America's emphasis on linguistic and historical continuity with British settler societies, distinguishing it from Canada's francophone elements. British-derived common law governs legal systems in both countries' English-dominant jurisdictions, reinforcing institutional cohesion.[5] While peripheral English-speaking territories such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands share colonial legacies, they lack the scale and sovereignty to qualify as core; the United States and Canada alone account for over 99% of Anglo-America's population and economic output. This dyadic structure reflects patterns of 17th- and 18th-century British migration, where Protestant English, Scottish, and Welsh settlers established enduring demographic majorities. Economic integration, exemplified by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement effective July 1, 2020, further binds these core components through trade volumes exceeding $1.2 trillion annually.Distinctions from Broader Anglosphere
Anglo-America refers to the cultural and geographic region in North America dominated by English-speaking populations of British descent, primarily comprising the United States and English-speaking Canada, where Protestant settler traditions from the 17th and 18th centuries established enduring patterns of governance, economy, and society. This scope excludes French-speaking Quebec and emphasizes a shared heritage of colonial settlement leading to independent nation-states with federal systems and market-oriented economies.[1][6] In contrast, the broader Anglosphere encompasses a global network of English-speaking nations bound by linguistic, legal, and diplomatic ties, including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland alongside the United States and Canada. The Anglosphere concept, popularized in 20th-century geopolitical discourse, highlights ongoing alliances like the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing agreement formed in 1946 among the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, extending beyond mere geography to emphasize strategic cooperation rooted in common law traditions and parliamentary democracy.[7][8] A primary distinction lies in territorial focus: Anglo-America is delimited to the Americas, reflecting the historical divergence of British colonies there from the metropole through events like the American Revolution in 1776 and Canadian Confederation in 1867, which fostered republican and federal experiments absent in the Old World or antipodean dominions. The Anglosphere, however, integrates the UK as the cultural origin point and incorporates settler societies in Oceania, where loyalty to the Crown persisted longer, as evidenced by Australia's federation in 1901 under monarchical oversight. This hemispheric boundary underscores Anglo-America's orientation toward continental integration and isolationism in foreign policy, differing from the Anglosphere's transoceanic emphasis on imperial remnants and multilateral pacts.[6][8] Culturally, Anglo-America prioritizes the Anglo-Saxon Protestant ethos—characterized by waves of migration from England between 1629 and 1775 that instilled values of liberty, property rights, and voluntary association—while the broader Anglosphere accommodates greater Celtic influences in the UK and Ireland or convict-transportee demographics in Australia, leading to variations in social welfare models and national identities. For instance, the US and Canada's emphasis on rugged individualism and limited government contrasts with the UK and Australia's more statist approaches, as seen in the latter's universal healthcare systems established post-1940s versus the US's market-driven model. These differences arise from divergent settlement patterns: frontier expansion in North America promoted decentralism, whereas island or dominion geographies elsewhere reinforced centralized authority.[1][7]Historical Foundations
Pre-Colonial British Influences
The English common law system, which forms the bedrock of Anglo-American jurisprudence, originated in medieval England through the centralized royal courts established after the Norman Conquest of 1066. By the 12th century, judges under kings like Henry II began applying consistent precedents in cases involving land disputes and criminal matters, creating a body of judge-made law that emphasized adversarial proceedings and stare decisis over codified statutes.[9] This framework prioritized empirical case resolutions and property rights, influencing later colonial legal practices without direct statutory imposition until after settlement.[10] Constitutional precedents limiting monarchical authority also developed in Britain prior to transatlantic colonization. The Magna Carta of 1215, signed by King John, established principles such as habeas corpus and due process, curbing arbitrary royal power and affirming baronial rights that evolved into broader protections against executive overreach.[11] Parliament's precursor institutions, including the Model Parliament convened by Edward I in 1295, institutionalized representative assemblies drawing from nobility, clergy, and commons, fostering deliberative governance and taxation consent that predated American colonial charters by centuries.[12] These mechanisms reflected a gradual shift toward mixed government, blending monarchy with aristocratic and popular elements. The Protestant Reformation profoundly reshaped British religious and social structures before 1600, laying groundwork for Anglo-American individualism and anti-authoritarianism. Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy in 1534 severed ties with Rome, establishing royal headship over the Church of England and promoting vernacular scripture access, which boosted literacy rates and personal Bible interpretation among the laity.[12] Under Edward VI and Elizabeth I, doctrinal reforms emphasized predestination and covenant theology, eroding hierarchical sacramentalism in favor of congregational discipline and work ethic doctrines that later animated Puritan settlers.[13] This era's religious upheavals, including the dissolution of monasteries between 1536 and 1541, redistributed wealth toward lay ownership and fostered skepticism of centralized ecclesiastical power, seeding voluntarist traditions in future Anglo-American societies.[12]Colonial Settlement and Expansion
The establishment of English colonies in North America began with the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, in May 1607 by 104 settlers dispatched by the Virginia Company of London, marking the first permanent English settlement amid challenging conditions including disease and conflicts with indigenous Powhatan peoples.[14] This joint-stock venture aimed at economic exploitation through tobacco cultivation, which later drove expansion. Subsequent settlements included the Puritan Plymouth Colony in 1620, founded by Separatists seeking religious autonomy, and the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, which attracted over 20,000 migrants in the "Great Migration" by 1640, establishing a theocratic framework in New England.[15] By mid-century, proprietary colonies like Maryland (1634) and Carolina (1663) emerged, alongside royal colonies such as New York (taken from Dutch in 1664), fostering diverse economies based on agriculture, fishing, and trade.[16] Colonial expansion accelerated through the 18th century via land grants, speculative companies, and military victories over French and indigenous rivals. The population of the Thirteen Colonies surged from roughly 260,000 in 1700 to 2.15 million by 1770, propelled by natural increase (birth rates exceeding 50 per 1,000) and immigration of indentured servants, Scots-Irish frontiersmen, and German farmers seeking farmland.[17] [18] Westward pushes, such as into the Piedmont and Ohio Valley, involved treaties like the 1729 division of Carolina and Proclamation of 1763 (which temporarily restricted settlement to appease natives post-French and Indian War), but settlers often defied boundaries, leading to clashes like Pontiac's Rebellion in 1763.[14] In the Caribbean, early outposts like Bermuda (settled 1612 after a 1609 shipwreck) and Barbados (1627) developed plantation systems reliant on sugar and African slavery, contributing to Britain's imperial economy but with limited long-term Anglo demographic dominance compared to continental settler societies.[15] British presence in northern territories predated full control of Canada, with seasonal fishing stations in Newfoundland from the 1580s and permanent Cupers Cove settlement by 1610; the Hudson's Bay Company received a royal charter in 1670 to monopolize fur trade inland.[19] Conquest of Acadia (Nova Scotia) in 1710 and expulsion of French Acadians (1755–1764) secured Atlantic footholds, but substantive English settlement lagged until the 1763 Treaty of Paris ceded Quebec, Illinois, and other French holdings, integrating them into British North America under the Quebec Act (1774) to preserve French civil law while introducing English common law elements.[20] This laid groundwork for Anglo cultural expansion, though French speakers remained majority in Lower Canada until Loyalist influxes post-1776 American independence swelled English populations in Upper Canada and Maritime provinces.[21]Post-Independence Consolidation
Following the American Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, the former colonies initially governed under the Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781, which established a loose alliance of sovereign states with limited central authority, leading to economic instability and challenges in interstate coordination.[22] The weaknesses of this framework prompted the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, where delegates drafted a new Constitution that created a federal republic with separated powers, checks and balances, and enumerated rights, ratified by the required nine states by June 1788 and effective upon the eleventh state's ratification on March 4, 1789.[23] This document consolidated national unity by establishing a stronger executive, judiciary, and bicameral legislature, while the Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791, addressed Anti-Federalist concerns over individual liberties.[24] Territorial and sovereign consolidation accelerated in the early 19th century, exemplified by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which doubled U.S. land area through acquisition from France for $15 million, facilitating westward expansion and reducing European influence in North America.[23] The War of 1812 against Britain, ending with the Treaty of Ghent in 1814, affirmed U.S. sovereignty by repelling invasions and ending impressment of American sailors, fostering national identity and infrastructure development like roads and canals under the subsequent "Era of Good Feelings."[25] The Monroe Doctrine, articulated in 1823, further solidified U.S. hemispheric dominance by warning European powers against recolonization efforts, marking a shift toward assertive foreign policy rooted in republican principles.[23] In Canada, consolidation occurred later through British North America Act of 1867, which united the Province of Canada (divided into Ontario and Quebec), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia into a federal dominion with responsible government, preserving British parliamentary traditions while granting autonomy over internal affairs.[20] This confederation addressed vulnerabilities to U.S. expansionism post-Civil War and economic integration needs, with subsequent accessions like Prince Edward Island in 1873 expanding the federation.[26] The dominion's structure emphasized provincial rights alongside federal authority, enabling resource-based growth in railways and settlement, though tensions over French-English relations persisted.[27] Full legislative independence came with the Statute of Westminster in 1931, reinforcing Canada's evolution as a stable Anglo-American counterpart to the U.S.[26] British Caribbean colonies, integral to Anglo-America's English-speaking periphery, underwent delayed independence, with most achieving sovereignty between 1962 and 1983—Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago in 1962, Barbados in 1966, and others following—often retaining Commonwealth ties and Westminster-style parliaments for institutional continuity.[28] The failed West Indies Federation (1958–1962) highlighted challenges in regional unity amid ethnic diversity and economic disparities, leading to individual consolidations focused on tourism and offshore finance rather than federalism.[29] These nations preserved Anglo legal and linguistic frameworks, distinguishing them from Spanish- or French-influenced neighbors.[28]Geography and Demographics
Physical and Political Boundaries
Anglo-America primarily encompasses the territories of the United States and Canada, covering a combined total area of approximately 19,357,280 square kilometers.[30] This region dominates the northern portion of the North American continent, extending from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the vicinity of the Tropic of Cancer in the south, with an east-west span of roughly 5,000 miles.[31] Its physical boundaries are formed by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico to the east and southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the international border with Mexico to the south.[32] The United States land area measures 9,372,610 square kilometers, while Canada's totals 9,984,670 square kilometers, making the latter slightly larger in overall area but the former in land-only terms at about 9,147,593 square kilometers compared to Canada's 9,093,507 square kilometers.[30][33] Including non-contiguous areas like Alaska, Hawaii, and Canada's Arctic islands, the region's physiographic diversity ranges from tundra and boreal forests to temperate plains, mountains such as the Rockies, and coastal lowlands. Politically, Anglo-America is defined by the sovereign boundaries of the United States, a federal republic, and Canada, a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy.[34] The two nations share the world's longest international land border, approximately 8,891 kilometers long, which remains largely undefended and facilitates extensive cross-border integration.[35] The U.S. includes 50 states, the federal District of Columbia, and territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam, while Canada comprises 10 provinces and 3 territories. While some definitions extend to English-speaking Caribbean dependencies and nations like Belize or Guyana due to shared linguistic and historical ties, the core political boundaries center on these two continental powers, excluding French-dominant Quebec culturally but including it territorially.[6]Ethnic and Cultural Composition
The ethnic composition of Anglo-America, centered on the United States and Canada, reflects a historical core of British-descended settlers augmented by Indigenous populations, enslaved Africans, and waves of immigration from Europe, Latin America, Asia, and elsewhere. As of 2023, non-Hispanic Whites of primarily European ancestry form the largest group in both countries, comprising about 58% of the U.S. population (approximately 193 million out of 333 million total) and 70% of Canada's (about 26 million out of 40 million).[36][37] This European-descended majority traces largely to 17th-19th century British, German, Irish, and Scandinavian migrations, which established the region's demographic foundation before 20th-century shifts. Indigenous peoples, present prior to colonization, number around 9.7 million across both nations (2% in the U.S., 5% in Canada), while Black populations—stemming from the transatlantic slave trade—account for 13% in the U.S. (about 40 million) and 4% in Canada (1.5 million).[37] Hispanic or Latino populations, largely from post-1965 immigration and earlier Mexican border dynamics, represent 19% of the U.S. total (63 million), concentrated in southwestern states, but remain under 2% in Canada due to stricter immigration selectivity favoring skilled economic migrants.[38] Asian groups, driven by 19th-century labor migrations (e.g., Chinese railroads) and recent high-skilled inflows, constitute 6% in the U.S. (20 million) and 7% in Canada (South Asians at 7.1%, Chinese at 4.7%).[36][37] These patterns underscore causal drivers: U.S. proximity to Latin America and family-based immigration policies have accelerated non-European growth, reducing the White share from 80% in 1980 to current levels, while Canada's points-based system sustains higher European and East Asian proportions relative to the U.S. Multiracial identifications have risen, reaching 10% in the U.S. by 2020, reflecting intermarriage amid declining ethnic enclaves.[39] Culturally, Anglo-America exhibits a predominant English-language framework, with over 95% proficiency in both countries, fostering shared media, education, and legal norms derived from British Protestant traditions.[4] Religiously, historical Anglican and Puritan influences yielded Protestant majorities (45-50% in the U.S., 30% in Canada as of recent surveys), though secularization and immigration have boosted Catholic (20% U.S., 40% Canada) and non-Christian shares (e.g., 5% Muslim/Hindu combined). This cultural synthesis emphasizes individualism and empirical pragmatism, traceable to Anglo-Saxon settler ethos, yet adapts via assimilation: second-generation immigrants often adopt mainstream values, as evidenced by higher English usage and intermarriage rates among Hispanics and Asians (over 25% in U.S. cases).[40] Despite diversity, institutional continuity—e.g., common law and federalism—preserves a cohesive Anglo-derived core, distinguishing it from Romance-language Americas.[41]Cultural and Institutional Core
Language, Literature, and Education
English serves as the primary language across Anglo-America, encompassing the United States and English-speaking regions of Canada. In the United States, approximately 78.4% of the population aged 5 and older speaks only English at home, with an additional share proficient in it as a second language.[42] In Canada, 76.1% of the population identifies English as their first official language spoken, predominant outside Quebec.[43] These variants of English—American English in the US and Canadian English in the rest of Canada—share roots in British English but diverge in vocabulary, spelling (e.g., "color" vs. "colour"), and pronunciation due to historical settlement patterns and influences from Indigenous, French, and immigrant languages. Literature in Anglo-America emerged from colonial religious and political writings, evolving into distinct national traditions. In the US, early 19th-century Romanticism featured authors like Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), whose essay "Self-Reliance" (1841) emphasized individualism, and Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), author of Walden (1854), critiquing materialism.[44] Post-Civil War Realism included Mark Twain (1835–1910) with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), satirizing Southern society and racial hypocrisies. Canadian literature, influenced by British forms and frontier themes, gained prominence in the 20th century with Alice Munro (1931–2024), Nobel laureate for short stories like those in Dear Life (2012) exploring rural Ontario life, and Margaret Atwood (born 1939), known for The Handmaid's Tale (1985), a dystopian critique of totalitarianism.[45] These works reflect shared Anglo-American emphases on personal liberty and empirical observation, diverging in regional focuses like American exceptionalism versus Canadian restraint. Education systems in Anglo-America prioritize universal public access, with compulsory schooling from ages 6 to 16 or 18. The US system, decentralized across 13,000+ school districts, funds K-12 public education via local property taxes and state aid, serving 50 million students; higher education includes nearly 4,000 degree-granting institutions.[46] Canada's provincial systems, more standardized, enroll 5.7 million in public elementary and secondary schools, with 96 universities emphasizing research.[47] Literacy rates hover near 99% officially in both nations, though functional proficiency varies; in PISA 2022 assessments, Canada scored 497 in mathematics (above OECD average of 472), outperforming the US at 465, indicating stronger applied skills in reading, math, and science among 15-year-olds.[48][49] Leading universities include US institutions like Harvard (founded 1636) and Stanford (1885), alongside Canada's University of Toronto (1827), fostering innovation through liberal arts and STEM emphases.Core Values: Individualism and Rule of Law
Anglo-American societies prioritize individualism, a cultural orientation emphasizing personal autonomy, self-reliance, and the pursuit of individual goals over collective obligations. In Geert Hofstede's cultural dimensions framework, derived from extensive surveys of values across nations, core Anglo-American countries score among the highest globally on the individualism index: the United States at 91, Australia at 90, the United Kingdom at 89, and Canada at 80, reflecting preferences for loose social ties, personal achievement, and minimal interference in private affairs.[50][51] These scores contrast sharply with collectivist societies, where group harmony predominates, and stem from historical patterns of voluntary settlement by Protestant dissenters seeking religious and economic freedom, as well as frontier expansion that rewarded self-sufficiency. John Locke's philosophy, articulated in his Two Treatises of Government (1689), further entrenched this value by positing natural rights to life, liberty, and property as inherent and prior to government, directly shaping the U.S. Declaration of Independence (1776) and broader Anglo-American constitutionalism.[52] The rule of law, defined as the principle that all individuals and institutions, including government, are accountable to laws publicly promulgated, equally enforced, and independently adjudicated, forms another foundational value exported from England to its settler colonies. This tradition originated in medieval England with the Magna Carta (1215), which compelled King John to affirm that no freeman could be punished except through the law of the land, thereby subordinating royal authority to legal constraints and establishing habeas corpus protections against arbitrary detention.[53] The English common law system, evolving through judicial precedents rather than codified statutes, emphasized adversarial proceedings, jury trials, and property rights, principles codified in the English Bill of Rights (1689) and transplanted to Anglo-America via colonial charters.[9] In the United States, this manifested in the Constitution (1787) and Bill of Rights (1791), which limit federal powers and safeguard individual liberties through checks and balances; similar frameworks appear in Canada's Constitution Act (1867) and Australia's Commonwealth Constitution (1901). These values interconnect causally: individualism flourishes under rule of law by securing personal rights against state overreach, while rule of law derives legitimacy from protecting individual agency rather than enforcing communal norms. Empirical evidence includes Anglo-American countries' superior performance in global assessments; in the World Justice Project's 2023 Rule of Law Index, covering 142 jurisdictions via household and expert surveys, Australia ranked 11th overall, with strong scores in constraints on government powers (8th) and absence of corruption (10th), underscoring institutional adherence to these principles amid modern challenges like executive expansions.[54] Canada followed at 13th, the UK at 18th, and the US at 26th, reflecting robust legal independence despite variances in criminal justice perceptions.[54] This enduring framework has enabled economic dynamism and civil liberties, though debates persist over erosions from administrative overreach or identity-based policies that subordinate individual merit to group claims.Economic Structures
Origins of Market-Oriented Systems
The foundations of market-oriented systems in Anglo-America trace to medieval England, where an elaborate market economy had emerged by the 13th century, facilitating trade in goods like wool and cloth through fairs, guilds, and early banking practices that predated sustained industrial growth by centuries.[55] This early commercial infrastructure, supported by secure property rights under common law traditions dating to the Norman Conquest in 1066, emphasized enforceable contracts and inheritance rules that incentivized investment over communal land use.[56] By the 16th century, the process of enclosure—converting open fields and commons into privately held farms—began systematically, with parliamentary acts accelerating after 1600 to consolidate land for more efficient, profit-driven agriculture, displacing subsistence farming in favor of cash crops and wage labor.[57] The enclosure movement intensified in the 18th century, with approximately 4,000 Parliamentary Enclosure Acts passed between 1750 and 1850, enclosing over 20% of England's land and boosting agricultural productivity by an estimated 50-100% through selective breeding, crop rotation, and market incentives, though it also increased rural inequality by concentrating ownership among larger proprietors.[58] [59] Concurrently, Britain's maritime expansion from the late 17th century, including the establishment of joint-stock companies like the East India Company in 1600, fostered capital accumulation via global trade in commodities such as sugar, tobacco, and slaves, laying groundwork for proto-capitalist institutions despite mercantilist regulations that prioritized state monopolies.[60] These developments were theorized by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (1776), which critiqued mercantilism's barriers to free exchange and advocated division of labor and open markets, influencing policy shifts toward deregulation in Britain and providing intellectual justification for reducing colonial trade restrictions.[61] In the American colonies, these British precedents evolved into a more decentralized market system by the mid-18th century, with northern settlements emphasizing small-scale family farms, artisanal production, and commerce in timber, fish, and ships, generating per capita incomes rivaling Britain's through less feudal land tenure and greater access to credit via common law trusts that predated widespread incorporation.[62] [63] Southern colonies, reliant on plantation staples like tobacco and rice, integrated slave labor into export-oriented markets under English property laws that treated enslaved people as chattel, fueling capital flows back to Britain but also fostering indigenous mercantile networks in ports like Boston and Philadelphia.[64] The common law's emphasis on secure titles and judicial remedies against arbitrary seizure—rooted in Magna Carta (1215) principles—protected against royal interventions, enabling colonists to amass wealth through land speculation and trade, as evidenced by the rapid growth of colonial GDP per capita from about £10 in 1650 to £15 by 1774 (in constant terms).[65] Smith's ideas resonated here, with American leaders like Alexander Hamilton citing them in debates over post-1787 economic policy, where the U.S. Constitution's contract clause (Article I, Section 10) and property protections entrenched market freedoms against state interference.[66] This transatlantic inheritance distinguished Anglo-American systems from continental European absolutism, where civil law codes often subordinated private property to sovereign prerogative; in contrast, English precedents prioritized individuated rights, empirically correlating with higher investment rates and innovation, as Britain's economy grew at 0.7% annually from 1700-1820 compared to near-stagnation elsewhere in Europe.[67] Early American adaptations, free from some imperial monopolies after 1776, accelerated this trajectory, with the absence of entail and primogeniture laws—abolished in most states by 1800—facilitating land markets that redistributed holdings to entrepreneurial farmers, underpinning the republic's initial prosperity.[68]Innovation, Trade, and Prosperity Metrics
Anglo-American countries consistently rank among the global leaders in innovation metrics, driven by substantial investments in research and development and robust intellectual property systems. In the 2024 Global Innovation Index published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the United States secured third place overall with a score of 62.4, excelling in market sophistication and knowledge outputs, while the United Kingdom ranked fifth.[69][70] Canada followed at 14th, Australia at 19th, and New Zealand at 25th, reflecting strengths in infrastructure and human capital but trailing in business sophistication compared to top performers. The United States dominates absolute patent filings, with approximately 595,700 applications to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in fiscal year 2021, and holds 3.5 million patents in force as of 2023, underscoring its role in generating high-value intellectual property.[71][72] Trade metrics highlight varying degrees of openness, with Anglo-American economies benefiting from extensive intra-regional and global networks. Total trade (exports plus imports) as a percentage of GDP stands at about 27% for the United States in 2022, among the lowest for major economies due to its large domestic market, compared to New Zealand's 50% in 2023 and Australia's approximately 45%.[73][74] Canada reports around 34%, while the United Kingdom's figure hovers near 60%, reflecting post-Brexit adjustments and reliance on services trade. These nations collectively account for a disproportionate share of high-tech exports, with the U.S. leading in sectors like aerospace and software. Prosperity indicators affirm the economic success of these jurisdictions, with high GDP per capita on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis and elevated human development scores. According to International Monetary Fund estimates for 2024, the United States tops the group at approximately $85,000 PPP, followed by Australia at $66,000, Canada at $60,000, New Zealand at $55,000, and the United Kingdom at $59,000.[75]| Country | GDP per Capita PPP (2024 est., Intl. $) | HDI Rank (2023) | HDI Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 85,373 | 17 | 0.938 |
| Australia | 65,833 | 5 | 0.958 |
| Canada | 60,186 | 15 | 0.939 |
| United Kingdom | 58,871 | 15 | 0.940 |
| New Zealand | 54,046 | 16 | 0.940 |