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Over the past few years, more and more Americans have been moving out of the suburbs and into
high density urban cities. This trend is especially pronounced in the state of New York, where
nearly half of the population lives in New York City. In fact, New York is one of the
most diverse regions in the world, with enormous artistic, political, cultural, and social
influence. So we wanted to know, just how powerful is New York?
Well, the entire state covers roughly 55,000 square miles, which is a bit larger than Greece,
and would rank New York 95th worldwide, if it were a country. But New York doesn’t
even rank that highly in size for the US, coming in as the 30th biggest state. Instead,
it is New York’s population that’s really booming. With nearly 20 million residents
in total, it is the third most populous state in the US, and would be the 58th worldwide.
This is partially due to the fact that New York is one of the biggest migrant destinations
in the world, with nearly a quarter of the population foreign born. New York also contains
the largest Puerto Rican population in the US, with a huge proportion of Dominican, Jamaican,
and Mexican Americans.
As one of the financial capitals of the world, and the home of Wall Street, it should be
no surprise that New York is incredibly wealthy. Their GDP is estimated around one and a half
trillion dollars, barely below Russia and Canada, ranking 12th worldwide. New York’s
largest export commodity is actually diamonds, followed by gold, and jewelry. During World
War II, Jewish jewellers in Antwerp and Amsterdam were forced to flee to New York, establishing
it as a major hub in the global diamond trade. It is estimated that as many as 90% of the
diamonds entering the US pass through New York. Today, the US has more Jews than any
other country besides Israel, and roughly 13 percent of the Jewish-American population
lives in New York.
So, how does New York protect all that wealth and culture? Well, the New York City Police
Department alone has a budget of about $5 billion dollars. That would rank them 40th
worldwide in total defense spending. The entire country of Ukraine has about the same defense
budget as New York City. The NYPD is the biggest police force in the US, with more employees
than even the FBI. Overall, New York State has nearly 100,000 full time law enforcement
personnel, which is about the size of Australia’s entire military.
Clearly, New York can hold it’s own on the world stage. Although New York State is propelled
there almost entirely by the efforts of New York City. But despite being one of the most
influential cities in the world, New York does have its problems. One in five New Yorkers
suffer from mental health issues, and many allege that the city’s police department
is plagued with racism and the use of unnecessary force. Still, whether talking about the city
or the state, there is no question: New York is mad powerful, b.
California comes in as the number one most populous U.S. state. Learn more about the
extent of the Golden State’s power in our video. Thanks for watching TestTube News!
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