In size, Canada is the second largest country on earth. In terms of
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, it is a member of Big Seven, the world"s leading industrial nations,
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the United States, France, the United Kingdom,
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Canada plays an active role
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, often taking part in peacekeeping and humanitarian missions and spearheading
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. Its scenery of mountains, oceans, forests and prairies is
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. It has a lively and rich culture, with many world famous actors, pop stars and writers. In annual "quality of life", Canada regularly is rated as having
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of living in the world because of its health care, education,
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, social welfare, and so on.
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its physical size, economic power and international prestige, Canada"s population is very small. The current population is
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. This paradox of having a small number of people in a very large, resource-rich area gives rise to some of
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people have about Canada.
Most people do not know very much about Canada. Mention the country and usually
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will spring to mind. On the one hand, you might picture
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, frozen country where people live in igloos, eat fish, hunt bears and
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snow and cold. On the other, you might think Canada is a country that is "just like America." Even Americans
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Canada as the 51st state, a part of America that through some quirk of history is not one of the United States.
It is easy to understand how such
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of Canada have become engrained. It is true that most of Canada lies very far north. Large areas of the country are wild, virtually unpopulated
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, full of dangerous animals and freezing temperatures. But most Canadians live in the south of the country: about
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of the population is estimated to live within
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of the Canadian-American border, in a climate that is much
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.
