Illinois

Illinois (English pronunciation [ˌɪlɪˈnɔɪ̯]) is a state of the United States of America. It is located in the Midwest and borders Lake Michigan to the northeast. The name comes from the Algonkin language and French, and refers to the Illiniwek or Illini tribe of Indians who inhabited the land at that time, and whose name means The People. When the first French settlers arrived in the late 17th century, they referred to the Illini as "[les] Illinois" (the Illini, Illinois). From 1712 on, the area was a French colony under that name, which the British took over in 1765 - with the name spelled the same, now pronounced English. It remained so in 1818, when Illinois became a state of the United States.

The only city in Illinois with more than a million inhabitants is Chicago, the third largest city in the USA behind New York City and Los Angeles. The official epithet of Illinois is Land of Lincoln after the 16th US President Abraham Lincoln, who lived in the capital Springfield and was buried there after his assassination.

Geography

Geographical location

In the west, the Mississippi River forms the border to the states of Iowa (in the northwest) and Missouri (in the southwest). In the southeast, the Ohio River takes over this role to the state of Kentucky. North of Illinois is Wisconsin and to the east is Indiana. Flowing through the state are the Illinois River and Kaskaskia River, which flow into the Mississippi River, and the Embarras River, Chicago River, and Sangamon River, which flow into the Wabash and Illinois Rivers, respectively. To the northeast, the state shares a border with Michigan in the middle of Lake Michigan. The highest natural elevation in Illinois is Charles Mound in Jo Daviess County with an elevation of 376 m. The highest point overall, however, is the aerial peak of Willis Tower in Chicago (708 m above sea level, 527 m above street level). The lowest point (85 m) is at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, in the city limits of Cairo in Alexander County.

With its flat terrain, Illinois is strongly influenced by the survey of the Congressional Survey System. The exceptions in the square street pattern and field boundaries to the regular north-south and east-west pattern are the railroads and the trunk roads that parallel them.

Structure

Illinois is divided into 102 counties. See list of counties in Illinois.

Typical landscape in central Illinois (Champaign County)

Population

Population development
Census	Inhabitants		± in %
1800	2458		- —
1810	12.282		399,7 %
1820	55.211		349,5 %
1830	157.445		185,2 %
1840	476.183		202,4 %
1850	851.470		78,8 %
1860	1.711.951		101,1 %
1870	2.539.891		48,4 %
1880	3.077.871		21,2 %
1890	3.826.352		24,3 %
1900	4.821.550		26 %
1910	5.638.591		16,9 %
1920	6.485.280		15 %
1930	7.630.654		17,7 %
1940	7.897.241		3,5 %
1950	8.712.176		10,3 %
1960	10.081.158		15,7 %
1970	11.113.976		10,2 %
1980	11.426.518		2,8 %
1990	11.430.602		0 %
2000	12.419.293		8,6 %
2010	12.830.632		3,3 %
Estimate 2017	12.802.023		−0,2 %
Before 1900 1900–1990 2010 2000

Illinois has a population of 12,802,023 as of 2017.

Age and gender structure

The age breakdown of Illinois is as follows:

• up to 18 years: 3,216,387 (26.8 %)
• 18-64 years: 8,083,210 (63.0 %)
• 65 years and older: 1,532,373 (10.2 %)

The median age is 38.7 years. 49.2% of the population is male and 50.8% female.

Ancestry

The ethnic composition of the population is mixed. Data from the 2014 American Community Survey revealed that the ethnic German population made up the largest percentage at 18.6%, followed by Hispanics (16.7%), African Americans (14.7%), Irish (11.6%), Polish (6.9%), English (5.7%), and Italian (5.8%). Asian Americans also made up 5.3% of the population and Native Americans 0.6%.

Beginning in the 1980s, a large wave of immigrants arrived in the country, mostly from Asia and Latin America, mostly to Chicago. This is also where about 95% of the state's Polish-born residents live, some of whom immigrated themselves, but some of whom are the descendants of an earlier wave of immigration.

Religions

The religious denominations with the largest number of members in 2000 were the Catholic Church with 3,874,933, the United Methodist Church with 365,182, and the Southern Baptist Convention with 305,838 adherents.

Education

The largest state universities include the three campuses of the University of Illinois, the two campuses of the Southern Illinois University System, Northern Illinois University, Eastern Illinois University, Western Illinois University, and Illinois State University. The most prominent private colleges in Illinois are the University ofChicago and Northwestern University. Other colleges are listed in the list of universities in Illinois.

Largest cities

Cities that form the core of a metropolitan region are marked in red. The remaining cities (except Bloomington) are part of the Chicago metropolitan region.

• List of localities in Illinois

Population density