2.5 million: The estimated number of people living in the newly independent nation in July 1776.

307 million: The nation's population on July Fourth 2009.

150 million: Hot dogs expected to be consumed by Americans on the Fourth. (That’s one frankfurter for every two people.)

700 million pounds of chicken purchased in the week leading up to July 4th.

190 million pounds of red meat/pork purchased in the week leading up to July 4th.

78 million: Number of Americans who said they have taken part in a barbecue during the previous year. It's probably safe to assume a lot of these events took place on Independence Day.

$17.3 million: The value of U.S. manufacturers' shipments of fireworks in 2002.

$193 million: The value of fireworks imported from China in 2008, representing the bulk of all U.S. fireworks imported ($202 million). U.S. exports of fireworks, by comparison, came to just $28.1 million in 2007, with Australia purchasing more than any other country ($5.8 million).

$349.2 million: Annual dollar value of shipments of fabricated flags, banners and similar emblems by the nation's manufacturers, according to the latest published Economic Census (2002) data.

$4.7 million: In 2008, the dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags. The vast majority of this amount ($3.0 million) was for U.S. flags made in China.

$569,400: Dollar value of U.S. flags exported in 2008.

And now a trivia question for you:

Which country was the leading customer purchased $186,400 worth of U.S. flags from United States last year?

You might be surprised, but this country was... Belgium!