Harper’s Index

Chance that a managed care patient is unaware of being enrolled in managed care: 2 in 3¹

Chance that an American without health insurance would be covered under Al Gore's proposed health-care plan: 1 in 2²

Percentage of eligible Texans who voted for George W. Bush for governor in 1994 and 1998, respectively: 27, 22³

Portion of Texas industrial plants operating under “grandfathered” emissions rules that predate 1971's Clean Air Act: 1/2⁴

Gallons of oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico this year after an oil rig's anchor punctured an underwater pipeline: 94,500⁵

Estimated tons of PCBs that General Electric has leaked into the Hudson River since 1977's ban on dumping the toxin: 6.8⁶

Estimated portion of whale, dolphin, and porpoise meat consumed in Japan last year whose pollution levels were toxic: 1/2⁷

Maximum tonnage by which pollution reduced China's potential annual wheat production between 1994 and 1996: 10,000⁸

Tons of wheat China imported during this period: 10,000⁹

Percentage change in foreign direct investment in Vietnam between 1991 and 1996: +1,142¹⁰

Percentage change since then: -43¹¹

Years it took Afghanistan to restore its international phone links after civil war disabled them in 1993: 7¹²

Average number of minutes per day that Americans spend waiting for Web pages to download: 9¹³

Percentage change since 1996 in the amount of time it takes a U.S. green-card holder to become a resident: +106¹⁴

Percentage change since 1994 in the number of beds in INS detention facilities: +2821¹⁵

Number of face masks that Mexico's Zapatista leader Subcommandante Marcos has worn out since 1994: 5¹⁶

Number of the eight Zapatista demands to which the Mexican government agreed in 1996 that have yet to be met: 0¹⁷

Minimum number of laws passed in Peru since 1992 that violate at least one article of the country's constitution: 91¹⁸

Percentage change between 1969 and 1998 in the annual number of planes hijacked worldwide: -89¹⁹

Percentage change between 1997 and 1998 in the number of cholera cases: +99 ²⁰

Factor by which Africa's cholera fatality rate exceeds the rate achievable with proper treatment and adequate sanitation: 5²¹

Percentage change between 1965 and 1995 in the number of U.S. households that pay for housecleaning: +53²²

Percentage change between 1975 and 1998 in the size of a new U.S. home: +33 ²³

Chance that an American earning more than $100,000 in 1988 was audited: 1 in 18²⁴

Chance that an American earning this much in 1996 was: 1 in 44²⁵

Factor by which combined U.S. individual charitable donations in 1998 exceeded those of foundations and corporations: 6²⁶

Total return on a dollar invested in the “socially responsible” Domini 400 Social Index in 1990: $5.75²⁷

Total return on a dollar invested in the S&P 500: $4.63²⁸

Length, in feet, of the longest soap bubble ever recorded: 105²⁹

Minutes of pregame snowball making allowed in the International Snow Battle Contest held this month in Finland: 30³⁰

Number of days a Norse woman incubated a bird's egg between her breasts last spring before giving up: 28³¹

Age in years of the first baby born in Denmark last January, according to the hospital's computer: 100³²

Number of Americans who are at least this old: 62,000³³

Number of U.S. Census respondents in 1990 who identified their race as “other”: 9,804,847³⁴

Percentage of them later requestioned by the Census who reported being white: 59³⁵

Number of former welfare recipients New York City trained since last April to work as phone psychics: 15³⁶

Number of flowers that prison inmates plant each spring at the Illinois State Fairgrounds: 110,000³⁷

Ratio of April showers to plants producing May flowers at the Springfield, Illinois, Park District last year: 1:1,571³⁸

Rank of Chicago among the windiest U.S. cities: 53³⁹

Rank of Dodge City, Kansas: 1⁴⁰

Response: June 2000, page 20 · June 2000, page 20

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