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Last Month’s Index
[ October 2009 ]

Harper’s Index

Last Month’s Index
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Median percentage of respondents who said the same thing about George W. Bush in March 2008

: 17
October 2009 • Source: Pew Research Center (Washington)

Amount that one House Democrat on the Banking Committee lost in a stock scam between 2000 and 2005

: $3,000,000
October 2009 • Source: Office of Congressman Alan Grayson (Orlando, Fla.)

Percentage rate of U.S. obesity that the Department of Health and Human Services says it hopes to achieve by 2011

: 15
October 2009 • Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Washington)

Number of U.S. states where less than 20 percent of the population is currently obese

: 1
October 2009 • Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Washington)

Number of U.S. states where the obesity rate declined last year

: 0
October 2009 • Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Washington)

Average number of calories by which Americans underestimate the total in a hamburger and fries

: 463
October 2009 • Source: Jeremy Kees, Villanova School of Business (Villanova, Pa.)

Number of the past 22 months in which the U.S. pork industry has lost money

: 20
October 2009 • Source: John Lawrence, Iowa State University (Ames)

Estimated percentage change since 2003 in the number of Christians living in Iraq

: ???60
October 2009 • Source: U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

Median percentage of people in 21 nations surveyed who trust President Obama to “do the right thing” in world affairs

: 71
October 2009 • Source: Pew Research Center (Washington)

Portion of China’s stimulus spending that will go toward infrastructure projects

: 2/5
October 2009 • Source: China Market Research Group (Shanghai)/Appropriations Committee, U.S. House of Representatives

Number of times Bush and Obama, respectively, used the word “evil” during their first six months as president

: 18, 14
October 2009 • Source: LexisNexis (N.Y.C.)

Percentage of unintended U.S. pregnancies that are carried to term

: 43
October 2009 • Source: The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy (Washington)

Percentage of U.S. pregnancies that the mothers report to be unintended

: 47
October 2009 • Source: The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy (Washington)

Percentage change since last year in the number of Americans looking into sperm or egg donation

: +40
October 2009 • Source: Fertility Pro Registry (Irvine, Calif.)

Minimum number of Americans named either John or Jane Doe

: 212
October 2009 • Source: D. Kenneth Tucker, Carlton University (Ottawa)

Number of online virtual worlds that have been created for children and teenagers

: 112
October 2009 • Source: Engage Digital Media (Austin, Tex.)

Percentage of U.S. Internet users aged 11 or younger who will participate in such virtual worlds this year

: 37
October 2009 • Source: eMarketer (N.Y.C.)

Portion of its highway rest areas that Virginia is closing this year

: 1/2
October 2009 • Source: Virginia Department of Transportation (Richmond)

Percentage of their countries’ respective GDPs that the U.S. and Chinese recession stimulus packages represent

: 6, 13
October 2009 • Source: Harper's research/China Market Research Group (Shanghai)

Portion of U.S. spending that will

: 1/8
October 2009 • Source: China Market Research Group (Shanghai)/Appropriations Committee, U.S. House of Representatives

Percentage of Americans who could be sent to medical school in China this year on the total U.S. health spending

: 100
October 2009 • Source: Harper's research

Minimum number of “barefoot doctors” that China trained between 1965 and 1985

: 1,500,000
October 2009 • Source: Center for the History of Medicine, Peking University (Beijing)

Years that China’s current minister of health worked as one

: 1
October 2009 • Source: The Levin Institute (N.Y.C.)

Number of U.S. states in which laws exist that require children to pay for the medical care of indigent parents

: 30
October 2009 • Source: Katherine Pearson, The Pennsylvania State University (State College)

Minimum number of U.S. states where nursing homes have used these provisions to sue children of nonpaying residents

: 2
October 2009 • Source: Katherine Pearson, The Pennsylvania State University (State College)

Percentage of patients diagnosed by doctors as “vegetative” that a Belgian study found to be minimally conscious

: 40
October 2009 • Source: Caroline Schnakers, Coma Science Group, University of Li?ge (Li?ge, Belgium)

Percentage change since 2008 in the number of U.S. households planting gardens

: +19
October 2009 • Source: National Gardening Association (South Burlington, Vt.)

Percentage of the gardeners who say the recession has figured in their planting

: 62
October 2009 • Source: National Gardening Association (South Burlington, Vt.)

Chance a U.S. household that owns a Prius also owns an SUV

: 1 in 3
October 2009 • Source: Padilla Speer Beardsley (N.Y.C.)

Average number of inches by which high tides in Philadelphia exceeded normal during June

: 12
October 2009 • Source: U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Chance that a merchant ship worldwide is currently unused due to declining trade

: 1 in 12
October 2009 • Source: Lloyd's Marine Intelligence Unit (London)

Amount New York City spends each year on air, bus, and train tickets to send homeless people out of town

: $500,000
October 2009 • Source: Department of Homeless Services (N.Y.C.)

Percentage by which the number of new Washington, D.C., speed bumps so far in 2009 exceeds the last three years’ combined

: 17
October 2009 • Source: District Department of Transportation (Washington)

Number of spam emails sent for every one that receives a response

: 12,414,000
October 2009 • Source: Vern Paxson, International Computer Science Institute (Berkeley, Calif.)

Estimated number of U.S. adults who believe the media did not adequately cover Michael Jackson’s death

: 6,500,000
October 2009 • Source: Pew Research Center (Washington)

Years after his escape that Pepe, a hippopotamus from Pablo Escobar’s collection, was hunted down and killed in July

: 3
October 2009 • Source: Hacienda N?poles (Puerto Triunfo, Colombia)

Price for which North Carolina drug dealers are selling “ecstasy” tablets in the shape of Barack Obama’s face

: $10
October 2009 • Source: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

Portion of each tablet that is actually caffeine

: 1/2
October 2009 • Source: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

Percentage of unemployed Americans who take a nap each day

: 39
October 2009 • Source: Pew Research Center (Washington)

Percentage of employed Americans who do

: 31
October 2009 • Source: Pew Research Center (Washington)
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