Index Archive

Percentage of the 84,000 chemicals used commercially in the United States that are kept secret under federal law

: 20

Amount that Chelsea Clinton raised for Haiti by hosting a spinning class in Manhattan

: $76,000

Prices paid for a front-row and second-row bike, respectively

: $1,000, $500

Number of volunteer ministers sent to Haiti in January by the Church of Scientology

: 110

Number of German homeschoolers given asylum in January by a Tennessee court because Germany was “persecuting” them

: 5

Number of rare lizards that New Zealand customs officials found hidden in a German man’s underpants in December

: 44

Average number of arrests made each year since 2001 by all 4,000 Federal Air Marshals combined

: 4

Federal spending this represents per arrest

: $200,000,000

Minimum percentage of Arctic warming that has been caused by commercial-airline emissions

: 10

Number of arrests in California last year for solar-panel theft

: 4

Estimated number of Royal Caribbean passengers who have visited the company’s Haitian resort since the earthquake

: 36,000

Percentage of filings to the EPA last year about “substantial risk” from compounds that involved these secret chemicals

: 50

Chance that an American adult claims to wash his or her hands at least ten times a day

: 1 in 2

Chance that he or she has a specific phobia of some kind

: 1 in 10

Percentage of Protestant pastors in the United States who believe that Islam is “dangerous”

: 66

Percentage of American Muslims who believe the 9/11 attacks were carried out by Arabs

: 40

Number of UFO sighting reports made to England’s Ministry of Defence since 1959

: 12,400

Date on which its UFO hotline was scrapped due to the recession

: 12/1/2009

Percentage change in the per-capita consumption of alcohol by Britons since 1960

: +102

Percentage change since 1900

: ???19

Chance that a U.S. automobile accident occurs when at least one of the drivers is texting or talking on a cell phone

: 1 in 4

Rank of 2009 among the bank’s most profitable years on record

: 1

Number of U.S. banks receiving federal bailout funds that have missed at least one interest payment to the government

: 63

Estimated amount that all U.S. banks charged their customers last year in overdraft fees

: $38,900,000,000

Number of U.S. states where the unemployment rate for African Americans is at least twice that of white Americans

: 16

Amount that President Obama has added to America’s “brand value” according to the Nation Brands Index

: $2,100,000,000,000

Estimated value of all bribes paid each year in Afghanistan, expressed as a portion of the country’s legal GDP

: 1/4

Expressed as a portion of its opium, morphine, and heroin trade

: 9/10

Amount of money misused or embezzled by Chinese officials last year, according to a government audit

: $34,400,000,000

Percentage of cell phones made by Chinese companies that are unlicensed knockoffs of Western models

: 42

Total profits earned by the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank last year

: $46,100,000,000

Percentage change since 2008 in the average speed of an Internet connection worldwide

: +13

Percentage change in the United States

: ???2.4

Price paid on eBay in January for a sculpture, by a conceptual artist in Mexico, that automatically sells itself on eBay

: $6,350

Date on which Namibia acquired its first mainframe computer

: 11/7/2009

Price, from a Michigan company, for a downloadable punctuation mark to indicate sarcasm

: $1.99

Average number of hours a U.S. child aged 8 to 18 spends using an electronic device or watching television each day

: 7.6

Average number of snacks eaten per day by a U.S. child in 1977 and today, respectively

: 1.2, 2.3

Weight, in pounds, of the largest chocolate bunny on record, made last spring in Santa Catarina, Brazil

: 6,173

Harper’s Index

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