Pennsylvania

Location

Pennsylvania is bordered by New Jersey to the east, Delaware to the southeast, Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, Lake Erie to the northwest, and New York State to the north. The extension is 274 km in north-south direction and 455 km in east-west direction.

The total area of the state is 119,283 km², making it slightly larger than Bulgaria. Of this, 116,075 km² are land areas; 3,208 km² are water surfaces, of which Lake Erie accounts for 1,940 km².

The state's highest elevation, at 979 feet above sea level, is Mount Davis, named for its owner, a schoolteacher who fought on the Union side at the Battle of Gettysburg. The lowest point in Pennsylvania is at sea level on the Delaware River. The average elevation is 336 m.

The main river running through the state is called the Susquehanna River. Pennsylvania is characterized by deciduous forests and hilly country. In the east of the country you can find the low mountain range of the Appalachians.

In the south of the state lies the archaeologically interesting excavation site of Meadowcroft.

Structure

• List of counties in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has a population of 12,702,379 (as of the 2010 U.S. Census), of which 79.5% are white, 10.8% African American, 5.7% Hispanic, 2.7% Asian, 0.2% Native American.

Age and gender structure

The age distribution of Pennsylvania is as follows:

• up to 18 years: 2,807,534 (22.6 %)
• 18-64 years: 7,749,853 (62.3 %)
• 65 years and older: 1,883,231 (15.1 %)

The median age is 39.6 years. 48.6% of the population is male and 51.4% is female.

Ancestry

3,239,286 Pennsylvania residents reported having ethnic German ancestors in the 2014 American Community Survey. With a share of 25.3% of the total population, ethnic Germans are the largest population group in the state. They are followed by a wide margin by groups of Irish (16.4%), Italian (12.2%), English (7.0%), and Polish (6.4%) descent.

German-speaking immigrants, the Pennsylvania Dutch, among them Mennonites and Amish, settled mainly in the South, especially in Lancaster County. Germantown was founded in 1683. Berks County was settled mostly by Protestant Germans in the 18th century. 30,000 immigrants from 1727 to 1776 are published by name with details of names of ships, place of embarkation, and date of arrival in Philadelphia.

Population development

Religions

The largest religious denominations in 2000 were the Catholic Church with 3,802,524, the United Methodist Church with 659,350, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America with 611,913 adherents. Philadelphia is home to the North American headquarters of the Medical Mission Sisters (MMS).

Languages

Pennsylvania has no official language. However, the English language and partly also the German language are mainly used by official bodies.

Largest cities