India, July 3 -- On July 4, 1776, 56 delegates signed the Declaration of Independence at what is now known as Independence Hall in Philadelphia. July 4 has since been celebrated as Independence Day in the US. July 4, 2026 marks 250 years of the US. To paraphrase Hagrid from the first Harry Potter film, it is not every day that a global super power turns 250 and is still a super power. The only other country which can claim to have had a global influence like the US is its erstwhile coloniser Great Britain. The latter started losing its global influence by the time the First World War ended. What is the US like, to the world, its people and India, at its 250th? This is what this three-part series will try to answer with numbers.

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