United Kingdom vs. Alaska | Just the Stats

At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, the United States is an extraordinarily large place. It is so large, in fact, that 11 of its states separately possess a total area larger than that of the entire United Kingdom. This is truly mind-boggling, especially given that the UK is itself comprised of four nations.

That is precisely why I have undertaken this weekly project: tabulating the statistical differences (and sometimes similarities) between each of the fifty states and the United Kingdom. This week, we're going to assess how the state of Alaska—itself approximately 7 times the total area of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland combined—shapes up against the UK in each of the data areas listed below.

Please keep in mind that the contents of the following table do not serve any social or political agenda. Moreover, this table—as well as those of the other 49 states—is subject to revision, correction, and/or updates as and when such alterations are needed.

	ALASKA	UK
POPULATION	736,732	64,100,000
POPULATION DENSITY	1.26 people per sq. mile	662 people per sq. mile
TOTAL AREA (SQ. MILES)	663,268	94,060
YEAR OF FORMATION	1959	1707
TIME ZONE(S)	Alaska and Aleutian Time	GMT and BST
LARGEST CITY	Anchorage	London
HIGHEST POINT	20,320 ft (Mount McKinley)	4,406 ft (Ben Nevis)
HIGHEST REC. TEMP	100 °F (38 °C)	101.3°F (38.5°C)
LOWEST REC. TEMP	−80 °F (−62 °C)	-17°F (-27.2°C)
PREDOMINANT RELIGION	Christianity (79%)	Christianity (72%)
MALE LIFE EXPECTANCY	75.86	79.5
FEMALE LIFE EXPECTANCY	80.97	82.5
MURDER RATE (PER 100,000 PEOPLE)	4.1 (Statistics recorded in 2012)	1 (Statistics recorded in 2012)
TALLEST BUILDING	296ft (Conoco-Phillips Building in Anchorage)	1004ft (The Shard in London)
INCARCERATION RATE (PER 100,000 PEOPLE)	340	147
MINIMUM WAGE	$8.75 (increasing to $9.75 in 2016)	$9.96 (for workers over 21)
VEHICLES PER 1,000 PEOPLE	960	519
ADULT OBESITY RATE	27.3%	23.1%
AGE OF CONSENT	16 (Provided the older person is not in a position of authority).	16
MINIMUM AGE FOR FULL, UNRESTRICTED DRIVING LICENSES	16.5	17 (or 16 for some people claiming mobility benefit).

This article was written by Laurence Brown. Laurence is a British expat living in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is a contributor for BBC America and has written for Anglotopia. He is Editor-in-chief of Lost in the Pond and loves nothing more than to share these articles with anglophiles, expats, and other interested parties on social media. Follow Lost in the Pond on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.