Index Archive

Number of U.S. troops who would be stationed there if General Stanley McChrystal’s leaked request were granted

: 108,000

Estimated number of Soviet troops there in 1986, at the height of their invasion

: 120,000

Chances that an American over 55 thinks more U.S. troops should be sent to Afghanistan

: 4 in 9

Chance that an American under 35 thinks so

: 1 in 4

Percentage change since President Obama’s inauguration in the number of U.S. troops in Iraq

: ???16

Percentage change in the number of armed private contractors working for the United States there

: +52

Minimum amount the U.S. military has spent since 1985 on attempts to develop a missile shield

: $150,000,000,000

Estimated number of Al Qaeda members now operating in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. national security adviser

: 100

Ratio of Katie Couric’s salary to the total operating expenses of NPR’s seventeen foreign bureaus

: 3:2

Number of these states that offer traffic updates via Twitter

: 25

Percentage of Americans who say they would miss their local newspaper “not much” or “not at all” if it disappeared

: 42

Number of obituaries that the New York Times currently has pre-written

: 1,300

Average portion of its yearly household expenditures that a South African family will spend on a funeral

: 2/5

Chances that an American says he or she would like to die at home

: 7 in 10

Chance that he or she actually will

: 1 in 4

Estimated percentage of Americans injured by medical malpractice who file malpractice claims

: 3

Percentage of doctors in Florida who have no malpractice insurance coverage

: 34

Number of U.S. states where insurance companies can consider spousal abuse a preexisting condition

: 8

Percentage of British women who say they have never had sex while sober

: 6

Rank of Adobe Photoshop Secrets among the most frequently pirated e-books this fall

: 1

Rank of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amazing Sex

: 2

Number of seats in the European parliament currently held by the Pirate Party, an anti-copyright group

: 1

Price for which an Australian firm will deliver 5,000 new Facebook friends

: $727

Number of U.S. states that have banned texting while driving

: 27

Ratio of journalists to delegates among registered attendees at this fall’s G20 meeting in Pittsburgh

: 5:1

Minimum number of times that G20 nations have broken their anti-protectionism pledge since making it in April

: 106

Number of African nations that have extended or removed term limits on their leaders since 2002

: 9

Chances that a refugee worldwide has been displaced for more than five years

: 2 in 3

Price for a “homeless” doll from American Girl

: $95

Projected amount that lawyers and other advisers will earn from the bankruptcy proceeding of Lehman Brothers

: $1,398,000,000

Number of consecutive years that the average house size had grown before this decline

: 13

Percentage change during 2008 in the average size of a new U.S. house

: ???3

Percentage of all Las Vegas homes that are currently worth less than their mortgages

: 81

Percentage of all Beijing corporate office space that is currently vacant

: 22

Number of people in the Chinese province of Xinjiang who have been stabbed this year with “needle-like objects”

: 531

Rank of peasants, clergy, and sex workers, respectively

: 1, 2, 3

Rank of politicians among classes of people most trusted by Chinese in a poll this summer

: 25

Percentage of Americans and Chinese, respectively, who think action on warming is worth it even if prices rise as a result

: 41, 88

Rank of global warming among national priorities cited by Americans in a January poll

: 20

Factor by which this exceeds spending on the Apollo moon landing and the Manhattan Project combined, adjusted for inflation

: 5

Harper’s Index

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