Index Archive

Amount of governmental support that Canadian banks have required during the financial crisis

: $0

Credit rating to which a Brazilian agency downgraded the U.S. government in May

: AA

Minimum number of U.S. spas that have packages targeted at teenagers

: 3,470

Average percentage change over that period in sales at teen-directed retailers overall

: ???8

Percentage change between winter 2008 and winter 2009 in sales at the goth- and punk-themed retail chain Hot Topic

: +13

Chances that a U.S. college student in May reported feeling “down, depressed, or hopeless”

: 2 in 5

Percentage change in the number of credit-card offers Americans have received

: ???67

Percentage change in the amount of debt that credit-card companies have written off

: +63

Percentage change between winter 2008 and winter 2009 in the amount of delinquent U.S. credit-card debt

: +47

Chance that a U.S. home purchase in the first quarter of this year was of a foreclosed or short-sale property

: 1 in 2

Percentage of U.S. and Canadian mortgages, respectively, that are in foreclosure or more than 90 days delinquent

: 7.2, 0.4

Percentage by which moderate Internet surfers are more productive in their jobs than non-surfers

: 9

Estimated chance that one of these genes is owned by a private company

: 1 in 4

Average number of different items that a 17-year-old who grew up poor can hold in his or her memory at once

: 8.5

Average number of items that a 17-year-old who grew up middle-class can

: 9.4

Median income of a rider on the Washington, D.C., metro-area bus system

: $69,620

Median income of a rider on the subway system

: $102,110

Minimum amount donated or bundled to President Obama’s campaign by the ambassadors he has nominated so far

: $3,950,000

Chance that a George W. Bush cabinet member now works for a firm lobbying his or her former department

: 1 in 4

Minimum amount raised for the George W. Bush presidential library so far

: $100,000,000

Percentage change since 2007 in the number of Texas cattle thefts

: +300

Square miles of African farmland acquired by Chinese investors since 2006

: 10,851

Factor by which the average number of hogs on each U.S. hog farm has increased since 1965

: 19

Ratio of the average number of microbes living in or on a person’s body to the average number of human cells

: 10:1

Percentage of human genes that have been patented so far

: 34

Rank of this percentage among the highest for all industries

: 1

Percentage of male British IT workers who say they consider their sex partners’ needs before their own

: 82

Chances that a Twitter user accesses the service only while at work

: 2 in 3

Estimated percentage of all existing blogs that have not been updated in four months

: 94

Number of years since recordkeeping began in 1945 that usage has declined

: 0

Projected percentage change in worldwide electricity usage this year

: ???3.5

Estimated number of planets in the galaxy hospitable enough to support life as intelligent as humans

: 37,964

Backlog, in years, of retired U.S. nuclear warheads waiting to be dismantled by the federal government

: 13

Estimated number of cars that it takes to produce as much CO2 as a single large cargo ship

: 10,000

Projected percentage change by 2050 in the amount of mercury in the Pacific Ocean

: +33

Tons of active pharmaceutical ingredients dumped into the environment by medical-supply companies since 1988

: 421,500

Estimated weekly revenue from heroin sales that two Pennsylvania senior citizens were making before their April arrest

: $10,000

Number of years by which the median age of a Penthouse reader has increased during the past five years

: 5

Number of Louisiana towns the porn star Stormy Daniels has visited on her “listening tour” for a possible Senate run

: 5

Average number of body waxes that one New York spa performs on preteens each week

: 15

Harper’s Index

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