New York is the largest city in the United States of America. Its leading and influential role in commerce, finance, media, public relations, art, fashion and education makes it one of the world’s most important cities. The city is also called New York City or NYC to distinguish it from the state of New York in which it is located. New York is not the capital of that state, that is Albany.
According to localcollegeexplorer, the New York metropolitan area is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. The city is the most populous major city in the United States with approximately 8.5 million inhabitants spread over an area of 789.43 km². New York City consists of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Many of the city’s landmarks and neighborhoods are world famous and often symbolize the United States in general. For example, there are the Statue of Liberty,Wall Street, skyscrapers such as the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building, the old World Trade Center with the Twin Towers, destroyed by terrorists in 2001, and its successor, the One World Trade Center, opened in 2014.
The bustle and vibrancy give the city the nickname The City That Never Sleeps (“the city that never sleeps”). Another popular nickname is the Big Apple.
| New York | |||
| Place in the United States | |||
| Location of New York in New York | |||
| Location of New York in the US | |||
| Location | |||
| State | New York | ||
| Coordinates | 40° 43′ N, 74° 0′ WL | ||
| General | |||
| Surface | 1,213.37 km² | ||
| – country | 783.84 km² | ||
| – water | 429.53 km² | ||
| Residents (April 1, 2020) |
8.804.190 (11232 inhabitant/km²) |
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| Height | 10 m | ||
| Politics | |||
| Mayor | Eric Adams (D) | ||
| Other | |||
| Time zone | UTC−5 also daylight saving time | ||
| ZIP code(s) | 10000–10499, 11004–11005, 11100–11499, 11600–11699 | ||
| Website | nyc.gov | ||
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Education
Main Building of the New York Public Library
There are more than 1,200 public elementary and secondary schools in New York City, teaching approximately 1.1 million students. In addition, there are approximately 900 private schools on a secular or religious basis, some of which are among the most prestigious in the United States. Although there are approximately 594,000 students in New York, the most of any city in the United States, the city is not often referred to as a college town. Higher education is provided by the City University of New York, among others, which is the third largest public university in the country. In addition, there are a number of private institutions such as the Columbia University and New York University.
The New York Public Library has the largest collection of books of any library in the country. Founded in 1895, the library has 87 branches across Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island. Queens and Brooklyn are served by their own public libraries. When these three are considered as one library, it consists of 208 branches with more than 30 million books. The New York Public Library also includes a number of research libraries, such as the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Healthcare
For the first time since World War II, life expectancy for New Yorkers (78.6 years) is longer than for the average American (77.8 years). Since 2001, this figure has grown faster than the national average every year. The death rate for black New Yorkers in 2005 was 23% higher than for white New Yorkers, up from 40% in 1990. The main cause of the increase in the average life expectancy of the New Yorker is the sharply decreasing number of deaths among young people. The number of murder victims, often young men, fell from 2,272 in 1990 to 579 in 2005. Another important factor is the decline in the number of deaths from AIDS. In 1994, 7,100 people died from AIDS. By 2005, better care and treatment had reduced this number to 1,419 deaths. The halved infant mortality rate, 13.3 deaths per 1000 in 1989 against 6.1 per 1000 in 2004, also contributes to the higher life expectancy.
Cardiovascular disease and cancer were the leading causes of death in 2005, followed by diabetes. In the last decade, the number of deaths from diabetes has increased by almost 20%. Higher excise taxes on cigarettes and bans on smoking in public places and on advertising tobacco products resulted in a 20% drop in the number of smokers in the city between 2002 and 2007. This drop is the largest since 1965.
New York is home to many private and public hospitals. The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, located in Manhattan, is considered the best hospital in the city and is ranked sixth in the United States. The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is a cancer treatment and research center founded in 1884 in Manhattan. This hospital was rated the second best cancer treatment center in the United States in 2007. The Bellevue Hospital Centerwas founded in 1736 and is the oldest public hospital in the United States. It is located in Manhattan and also has a renowned psychiatric clinic.
