3/89Estimated value of U.S. stock taken off the market in 1988 due to mergers and acquisitions: $131,000,000,000

U.S. Federal Reserve Board

    Estimated value of all new stock issued in 1988: $22,000,000,000

U.S. Federal Reserve Board

3/89Portion of all corporate bonds currently outstanding in the United States that are junk bonds: 1/4

Drexel Burnham Lambert (N.Y.C.)

3/89Percentage of the world’s stock-market capital accounted for by the shares of U.S. corporations: 29

Morgan Stanley Capital International Perspective (N.Y.C.)

    Percentage accounted for by the shares of Japanese corporations: 44

Morgan Stanley Capital International Perspective (N.Y.C.)

3/89Number of the Pentagon’s U.S. suppliers that were bought by foreign-owned companies in the first half of 1988: 37

Barry Blechman, Loral Corp. (N.Y.C.)

3/89Amount the Pentagon will spend this year on new chemical weapons: $60,400,000

Center for Defense Information (Washington)

    Amount the Pentagon will spend this year to destroy obsolete chemical weapons: $179,500,000

Center for Defense Information (Washington)

3/89Percentage of the U.S. hazardous waste shipped abroad that goes to Canada: 90

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

3/89Estimated number of countries in which foreign aid accounts for more than a quarter of the national budget: 40

U.S. Agency for International Development

3/89Amount Cuba earned last year from Western tourists: $117,000,000

National Institute of Tourism of Cuba (Montreal)

3/89Number of mayors in El Salvador who have resigned or been killed since last September: 47

U.S. Embassy (San Salvador)

3/89Rank of drugs, kidnapping, and car accidents, among the dangers to children most feared by parents: 1,2,3

National Safe Kids Campaign (Washington)

3/89Percentage of Americans who say that pregnant women who smoke or drink should be liable for harm to the fetus: 48

Hippocrates-Gallup Poll (Princeton)

3/89Estimated number of women worldwide who die each year as a result of illegal abortions: 200,000

World Health Organisation (Geneva)

3/89Estimated number of arrests of anti-abortion activists in the United States since 1987: 12,000

National Abortion Federation (Washington)

3/89Chances that a pregnant American woman will choose to have an abortion: 1 in 4

Centers for Disease Control (Atlanta)

3/89Number of babies conceived in the United States last year with sperm from an anonymous donor: 30,000

U.S. Congressional Office of Technology Assessment

3/89Percentage of Pittsburghers who named family members when asked which household pests they fear most: 1.3

Market Facts (Washington)

3/89Amount Americans spend each year to eradicate household pests: $3,500,000,000

National Pest Control Association (Dunn Loring, Va.)

3/89Estimated number of people who live in Manhattan subway stations: 840

N.Y.C. Transit Authority

3/89Amount of time it takes to ride the entire length of the New York City subway system, in hours: 30

Rich Temple (N.Y.C.)

3/89Total length of all U.S. interstate highways, in miles: 44,328

U.S. Federal Highway Administration

3/89Total length of all roads built during the Roman Empire, in miles: 49,000

Roman Empire 27 B.C.-A.D 476: A Study in Survival, by Chester G. Starr, Oxford University Press (N.Y.C.)

3/89Total distance driven each year worldwide, expressed in light-years: .5

Michael Renner, Worldwatch (Washington)

3/89Price of equipping a car with a pair of onion-gas spray guns, from Labock Industries in Tel Aviv: $960

Labock Industries (Tel Aviv)

3/89Percentage of Iowa farmers who support an independent Palestinian state: 40

Des Moines Register Iowa Poll

3/89Percentage increase, since 1980, in U.S. consumption of potato chips: 67

Snack Food Magazine (Duluth, Minn.)

3/89Percentage of Americans who watch television during dinner: 50

Roper Organization (N.Y.C.)

3/89Amount antique dealer Malcolm Willits received from the sale of six secondhand Oscars in the last year: $71,740

Malcolm Willits (Hollywood)

3/89Percentage increase in garter belt sales at Frederick’s of Hollywood since the release of Bull Durham: 15

Frederick’s of Hollywood

3/89Percentage increase, since 1980, in average attendance at the Los Angeles Dodgers’ spring-training games: 53

Dodgertown Sports and Conference Center (Vera Beach, Fla.)

3/89Price of an eleven-day ski trip to Antarctica, from Adventure Network: $9,995

Adventure Network (Vancouver, Canada)

3/89Percentage of all the salt produced in the United States that is used to melt ice on roads: 45

Salt Institute (Alexandria, Va.)

3/89Percentage of patients who like dentists to wear protective gloves “because of the taste”: 1

American Dental Hygienists’ Association (Chicago)

3/89Price of Dr. Etiquette, an electronic bad-breath detector sold in Japan: $130

Winners, Ltd. (Tokyo)

3/89Price of a five-minute collagen injection to fatten lips: $300

Paul Schnur, Mayo Clinic (Scottsdale, Ariz.)

3/89Average number of calories burned during an “extremely passionate” one-minute kiss: 26

Dieter’s Guide to Weight Loss During Sex, by Richard Smith, Workman Publishing (N.Y.C.)

    Number of calories in a Hershey’s Kiss: 25

Hershey Chocolate, USA (Hershey, Pa.)