The US number are like that because of illegal immigration from Latin America. There are two economies in the USA, the old economy would reflect numbers similar to the EU.
@Vitaliy - " it contains artifically adjusted numbers." Such as?...
@brianluce - Brian, yes and no, mostly no. Illigal immigration has dropped during the crisis, but the US remain the leader in legal immigration. That's actually an understatement. If I understand correctly, the us continues to allow more legal immigration than all other countries of the world combined.
There are many here who don't like the effect of the melting pot (the author of this thread is not one of them), but it's that continuing influx of hungry masses, Indian geniuses, Chinese business people, Nigerian artists, and ALL THE REST of the human beings who decide to come here, that will keep our motor running long after some of the nations on the graph above run out of steam.