United Kingdom vs. Minnesota | 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 Minnesota 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.
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	MINNESOTA	UK
POPULATION	5,458,333	64,100,000
POPULATION DENSITY	67.1 people per sq. mile	662 people per sq. mile
TOTAL AREA (SQ. MILES)	86,939	94,060
YEAR OF FORMATION	1858	1707
TIME ZONE(S)	Central	GMT and BST
LARGEST CITY	Minneapolis	London
HIGHEST POINT	2,302 ft (Eagle Mountain)	4,406 ft (Ben Nevis)
HIGHEST REC. TEMP	114 °F (46 °C)	101.3°F (38.5°C)
LOWEST REC. TEMP	−60 °F (−51.1 °C)	-17°F (-27.2°C)
MALE LIFE EXPECTANCY	78.67	79.5
FEMALE LIFE EXPECTANCY	83.34	82.5
MURDER RATE (PER 100,000 PEOPLE)	1.8 (Statistics recorded in 2012)	1 (Statistics recorded in 2012)
TALLEST BUILDING	792ft (IDS Center)	1004ft (The Shard in London)
INCARCERATION RATE (PER 100,000 PEOPLE)	289	147
MINIMUM WAGE	$9.00	$9.96 (for workers over 21)
VEHICLES PER 1,000 PEOPLE	870	519
ADULT OBESITY RATE	24.8%	23.1%
AGE OF CONSENT	16	16
MINIMUM AGE FOR FULL, UNRESTRICTED DRIVING LICENSES	18	17 (or 16 for some people claiming mobility benefit).

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Laurence Brown is a British expat living in the United States and is Editor-in-chief of Lost in the Pond. He writes popular expat narratives for BBC America and loves nothing more than to share his posts with anglophiles and expats on social media. Follow Lost in the Pond on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.