North America by the Numbers

How much do Canada and Mexico matter for the United States? Here are a few snapshots illustrating the importance of our combined global heft and influence.

• North American countries are joined by 7,500 miles of land borders, among the longest in the world.
• Though comprising less than 7 percent of the world’s population, Canada, Mexico and the United States produce nearly a quarter of the world’s GDP—some 20 trillion dollars.

Energy

• North America is the world’s largest biofuel producer, accounting for nearly half of global ethanol and biodiesel production.
• The United States, Canada, and Mexico produce nearly 20 percent of the world’s oil and 27 percent of the world’s natural gas.
• Forty-eight natural gas pipelines connect United States, Canada, and Mexico.
• In 2012, the region invested more than $250 billion in exploration and production of oil and gas, and experts predict that number could grow to half a trillion dollars annually by 2016.
• In 2013, Mexico sent 85 percent of its crude oil experts north—making Mexico the United States’ third-largest oil supplier, behind only Canada and Saudi Arabia.

Economic Competitiveness

• Over the last 20 years, North American regional trade grew from $300 billion to $1.1 trillion.
• Nearly half of all North America’s total exports traded between the three neighbors. Mexico and Canada, in fact, sell more than 75 percent of their exports within North America.
• The value of U.S. exports to Mexico and Canada is twice the value of exports to the European Union, and five times the value of its exports to China.
• Since NAFTA’s start, regional trade in services rose by nearly 200 percent—to well over $100 billion a year.

The People of North America

• Some thirty-four million Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, and more than three million Canadians and Canadian-Americans live in the United States.
• Mexicans and Canadians are the largest groups of tourists entering the United States: a combined 34 million visitors each year contribute an estimated $35 billion to the U.S. economy.
• In recent years, net migration of Mexicans to the United States has dropped to zero.

If you would like to learn more, read CFR’s new Independent Task Force: North America: Time for a New Focus.