Harper’s Index

Number of U.S. presidents since 1860 whose party controlled both houses of Congress by the third year of their first term: 12¹

Number of these presidents whose party already controlled both houses: 10²

Number whose bid for reelection failed: 1³

Chances that a U.S. House or Senate race last year was won by the candidate whose campaign spent the most: 9 in 10⁴

Number of "third" parties whose candidates won state legislative seats last year: 5⁵

Portion of the eight seats they won accounted for by Progressive Party candidates in Vermont: 1/2⁶

Number of states that use nonpartisan commissions to draw new congressional districts: 6⁷

Number of Louisiana's last three elected insurance commissioners convicted of corruption: 3⁸

Percentage change since 1998 in the number of federal convictions for health-care fraud: +43⁹

Chance that a drug dose prescribed to a U.S. hospital patient is either administered improperly or forgotten: 1 in 5¹⁰

Chances that a Rwandan woman raped during the 1994 genocide is now HIV-positive: 2 in 3¹¹

Estimated number of women killed as witches in Tanzania each year: 500¹²

Ratio of Americans killed by Timothy McVeigh and the D.C. snipers to those killed in Gulf War combat: 5:4¹³

Ratio of kilotonnage of U.S. bombs dropped during the Gulf War to that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima: 7:1¹⁴

Number of countries that supplied both sides during the Iran-Iraq war: 10¹⁵

Number of these that are among the world's five largest arms-manufacturing countries: 4¹⁶

Percentage of federal discretionary spending in 2001 devoted to "homeland security" or the Department of Defense: 51¹⁷

Percentage of the $1.1 trillion in Iraqi oil contracts that are held by French or Russian companies: 69¹⁸

Price charged by a Ukrainian company for a half-day tour of the Chernobyl nuclear-plant site: $460¹⁹

Number of years that a former Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India, has been leaking toxic chemicals: 18²⁰

Estimated number of people who have died there since then as a result: 20,000²¹

Years since criminal charges were filed against him in 1991 that Union Carbide's former CEO has been in hiding: 11²²

Ratio of net profit earned by U.S. airlines since 1970 to federal subsidies given the industry since September 2001: 1:1²³

Minimum number of box cutters taken from U.S. airline passengers since last February: 34,777²⁴

Minutes that a Massachusetts surgeon left a patient with an open incision in July while he went to deposit a check: 35²⁵

Chance that a doctor laughs along with a patient's laughter: 1 in 10²⁶

Chances that a doctor shows no response: 7 in 10²⁷

Percentage of Gulf War veterans reporting chronic postwar symptoms who share a single bacterial infection: 40²⁸

Minimum number of locals hired to act as Arabs heckling U.S. troops during an army war game in California last year: 15²⁹

Number of Arabic linguists fired by the U.S. Army since August for being gay: 7³⁰

Retail price Mattel suggests that toy stores assign its Lingerie Barbie, dressed in "merry widow" or "peek-a-boo" style: $45³¹

Percentage change since 1990 in the number of U.S. schoolchildren labeled "disabled": +37³²

Percentage of U.S. high schools receiving federal aid whose students' contact information the army sought last fall: 100³³

Average amount of aid each school district stands to lose if its schools do not supply the information: $762,083³⁴

Page of the No Child Left Behind education law passed last year on which this new requirement is noted: 559³⁵

Rank of Michael Moore's Stupid White Men among the New York Times's top "business" bestsellers in September: 1³⁶

Years after rapper Chuck D called Elvis Presley "straight-out racist" that he claimed "a great deal of respect" for him: 14³⁷

Factor by which the number of Americans who have "tried to impersonate Elvis" exceeds the population of Tennessee: 3³⁸

Rank of Mom, Dad, and Rudolph Giuliani among those whom recent college graduates say they most wish to emulate: 1, 2, 3³⁹

Chances that a U.S. adult does not want to live to be 120 under any circumstances: 2 in 3⁴⁰

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