2/85Percentage of American sixth-graders who cannot locate the United States on a world map: 20

National Council for Geographic Education (Macomb, Ill.) and Association of American Geographers (Washington, D.C.)

2/85American adults who read below the ninth-grade level: 60,000,000

Illiterate America, by Jonathan Kozol (Doubleday)

2/85Applicants for the 1,611 places in Stanford’s class of 1988 who had straight-A averages: 2,368

Stanford University

2/85Percentage increase since 1980 in U.S. military recruits who hold high school diplomas: 25

U.S. Department of Defense

2/85Average yearly increase in the number of women in the U.S. military during the first Reagan Administration: 6,615

U.S. Department of Defense

    During the Carter Administration: 13,113

U.S. Department of Defense

2/85Number of homosexuals discharged from the U.S. military in 1983: 1,796

The Advocate (Los Angeles)

    Amount the military spent recruiting and training the homosexuals it discharged: $22,500,000

The Advocate (Los Angeles)

2/85Number of aircraft-maintenance forms filled out each day in the Navy: 66,000

U.S. Naval Institute (Annapolis, Md.)

2/85Portion of the world’s nations that have practiced torture since 1980: 1/3

Amnesty International (New York City)

2/85Number of firearms, per capita, in Detroit: 0.8

Detroit Free Press

    Percentage of Americans who rank Detroit as the nation’s worst city: 64

Detroit Free Press/WDIV-TV (Detroit)

2/85Rank of Texas, among all states, in the number of police officers killed in the line of duty: 1

USA Today (Arlington, Va.)

2/85Percentage increase since 1980 in the number of Houston businesses filing for bankruptcy each month: 276

Price Waterhouse (Houston)

2/85Percentage of the radio and TV equipment industry’s output purchased by the Pentagon in 1982: 58

U.S. Department of Commerce

2/85Percentage increase in joint ventures undertaken by U.S. and Japanese companies since 1980: 100

Professor Robert Reich (Harvard University)

2/85Percentage decrease in articles by British scientists in the 2,000 leading scientific journals, from 1973 to 1980: 10

Foresight in Science: Picking the Winners, by John Irvine and Ben Martin (Frances Pinter, London)

2/85Percentage of the nuclear waste in the world’s oceans that was dumped by Britain: 90

Agriculture Ministry (London)

2/85Number of sites on British roads marked to protect toads crossing during the mating season: 150

Department of Transport (London)

2/85Percentage of Americans who say they support the 55-mph speed limit: 76

Gallup Organization (New York City)

    Percentage of drivers on interstate highways who exceed the 55-mph speed limit: 60

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (Washington, D.C.)

2/85Percentage of motor vehicles with vanity plates in Illinois: 1.1

Office of the Secretary of State (Springfield, Ill.)

    In California: 3.6

California State Department of Motor Vehicles (Sacramento)

2/85Average number of minutes a customer spends test-driving a new car: 25

Volvo of America (Rockleigh, N.J.)

2/85Average length of sexual intercourse for humans (in minutes): 2

Society for the Scientific Study of Sex (Philadelphia)

    For chimpanzees (in seconds): 7

Society for the Scientific Study of Sex (Philadelphia)

2/85Number of insect and related species resistant to pesticides in 1970: 224

Pest Resistance to Pesticides, by George P. Georgehiou and Tetsuo Saito (Plenum Publishing, New York City)

    In 1980: 428

Pest Resistance to Pesticides, by George P. Georgehiou and Tetsuo Saito (Plenum Publishing, New York City)

2/85Percentage decrease in total U.S. net farm income from 1979 to 1983: 50

U.S. Department of Agriculture

    Percentage increase in world food production since 1974: 30

United Nations World Food Council (New York City)

2/85Percentage decrease in wine consumption in France since 1978: 10

Le Nouvel Economiste (Paris)

    Percentage increase in cola consumption in France since 1978: 36

Le Nouvel Economiste (Paris)

2/85Average amount Americans spend to remodel their kitchens: $4,448

Kitchen and Bath Business magazine (New York City)

2/85Percentage of Americans who eat their evening meal between 5 P.M. and 8 P.M.: 87

Roper Organization (New York City)

2/85Rank of steak and potatoes among Americans’ favorite foods: 1,2

Roper Organization (New York City)

2/85Rank of watching television among activities people look forward to during the day: 1

Roper Organization (New York City)

2/85Rank of Rover, Spot, and Max among most popular names for dogs: 1,2,3

Kal Kan Report (Vernon, Calif.)

2/85Members of the Abraham Lincoln Association: 375

Abraham Lincoln Association (Springfield, Ill.)

    Members of the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation: 700

Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation (Plymouth, Vt.)