Index Archive

Percentage change since 2011 in the amount of time U.S. 15–24-year-olds spend doing homework

: +35

Percentage change since 2002 in the portion of U.S. high school seniors taking the ACT who received perfect scores

: +1,700

Percentage change since 2022 in the portion of U.S. middle school students who use tobacco products

: +47

In the portion of U.S. high school students who use nicotine vapes

: −29

Percentage of U.S. marijuana users who say they use the drug at least once per day

: 35

Portion of U.S. adults who say that regular alcohol use is more harmful than regular marijuana use

: 2/3

Number of U.S. weather disasters in the 1980s whose inflation-adjusted damages exceeded $1 billion

: 33

Minimum number of such disasters that have occurred since January 2023

: 47

Percentage of U.S. adults who say that the country is the best in the world at scientific research

: 16

Who say that American democracy sets a good example for other countries

: 19

Percentage of Israeli Jews who say that Gazans should have the right to self-governance

: 8

Who say that Israel’s use of military force in Gaza has gone too far

: 4

Who say that it has not gone far enough

: 42

Portion of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank who say that Hamas’s decision to attack Israel on October 7 was “correct”

: 2/3

Minimum percentage of Gazans who have lost a family member in the Israel–Hamas war

: 60

Chance that a U.S. adult is estranged from a family member

: 1 in 5

Portion of U.S. adults over 40 who say their best friend is one of their parents

: 1/2

Portion of U.S. adults who have gotten married since 2021 who say they “almost called off their wedding” beforehand

: 1/5

Percentage of U.S. Catholic priests ordained in the 1970s who say that masturbation is always a sin

: 18

Percentage of those ordained since 2010 who say so

: 75

Portion of approved U.S. candidates for ordination this year who were once Boy Scouts

: 3/10

Estimated portion of U.S. women aged 15–49 who in 2021 had attempted an abortion without medical supervision

: 1/20

Estimated portion who have done so now

: 1/14

Percentage of unsupervised abortions in the United States that involve consuming alcohol or another substance

: 19

That involve a hit to the stomach

: 22

Minimum number of popular tampon brands sold in the United States that contain lead or arsenic

: 14

Percentage increase since 2018 in the portion of U.S. women who have a prescription for oral birth control

: 40

Percentage decrease since 2020 in the population of children under 5 in New York City

: 18

Portion of U.S. counties in which the population of children under 5 has decreased in that time

: 2/3

Estimated number of U.S. counties without any foreign-born residents

: 15

Percentage by which male immigrants to the United States are less likely to be incarcerated than American-born men

: 60

By which immigrants to the United States are more likely than American-born citizens to start businesses

: 80

Percentage of U.S. adults who said they were worried about keeping money in banks after Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008

: 45

Who say they are worried about doing so now

: 48

Percentage by which U.S. adults are more likely to rank the 2020s as the worst economic era in the past century than the 1930s

: 39

Factor by which the increase in the average price of a meal at McDonald’s since 2014 has outpaced inflation

: 3

Portion of U.S. adults who are very confident in their ability to identify scams before falling for them

: 1/5

Percentage of U.S. adults who don’t know what a 401(k) is

: 43

Who have an idea they think could one day make them rich

: 33

Who “have a feeling in their bones” that they will one day win the lottery

: 19

Harper’s Index

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