1/93Ratio of the number of health-care lobbying groups in Washington to members of Congress: 3:2

National Health Council (Washington)/Harper’s research

1/93Average number of new clerical workers hired each day by U.S. physicians to do paperwork: 68

Public Citizen (Washington)

1/93Chances that a dollar spent on health care goes for administrative costs: 1 in 4

Public Citizen (Washington)

1/93Chances that an American child without health insurance lives in the South: 1 in 2

Southern Institute on Children and Families (Columbia, S.C.)

1/93Number of states where a single parent earning 75 percent of the poverty level is eligible for welfare: 5

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington)

    Number in 1980: 42

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington)

1/93Chances that an American whose income dropped below the poverty line last year is white: 1 in 2

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington)

1/93Percentage change, since 1988, in the number of blacks voting for president: -13

Voter Research & Surveys (N.Y.C.)

1/93Additional electoral votes Bill Clinton would have won if blacks in the South had voted at 1988 levels: 39

Voter Research & Surveys (N.Y.C.)

1/93Votes cast in November for Absolutely Nobody, a candidate for lieutenant-governor of Washington: 130,438

Associated Press (Seattle)

1/93Percentage of New Yorker articles since Tina Brown became editor whose first sentence includes a person’s name: 70

Harper’s research

1/93Number of The New Republic’s 14 editors who appeared on TV last year: 12

The New Republic (Washington)

1/93Percentage of TV viewers who say they wouldn’t give up watching TV in exchange for any amount of money: 25

Peter D. Hart Research Associates (Washington)

1/93Percentage of Super Bowl viewers who do not live in the United States: 89

A.C. Nielsen Media Research (N.Y.C.)/National Football League (N.Y.C.)

1/93Average length of a professional football player’s career, in years: 3.2

National Football League Players Association (Washington)

1/93Number of years in office Saddam Hussein will celebrate this summer: 13

Harper’s research

1/93Retirement benefits that will be paid to George Bush in 1993, expressed as a percentage of his previous salary: 169

Ellen Schultz, Wall Street Journal (N.Y.C.)

1/93Chances that a working American is self-employed: 1 in 13

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (Washington)

    Chances that a working Western European is: 1 in 8

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (Washington)

1/93Average number of crimes against foreigners each day in Germany during the first six months of 1992: 8

German Ministry of Interior (Bonn)

1/93Percentage of Turkish households in Germany that own a Mercedes: 20

Center for Turkish Studies (Essen, Germany)

    Percentage of German households that do: 8

Center for Turkish Studies (Essen, Germany)

1/93Ratio of the average tax levied on a gallon of gas sold in Europe to that on a gallon sold in the United States: 8:1

American Petroleum Institute (Washington)

1/93Chances that a Russian lives in an area in which air pollution exceeds official safety standards by five times: 3 in 4

Mike Shuster, National Public Radio (Moscow)/Russian Ministry of the Environment (Moscow)

1/93Number of bicycles for every car in China: 200

Worldwatch Institute (Washington)

1/93Percentage of Americans who think the world was’ “in better shape” a thousand years ago: 24

Yankelovich (Westport, Conn.)

1/93Chances that a Vermont household is heated solely with wood: 1 in 6

U.S. Census Bureau

1/93Number of trees used to produce the mail-order catalogues sent to U.S. households each year: 14,000,000

Direct Marketing Association (N.Y.C.)/Conservatree (San Francisco)

1/93Percentage of all domestic mail sent through the U.S. Postal Service that consists of personal letters: 4.5

U.S. General Accounting Office

1/93Number of fan letters Mr. Rogers answers personally each year: 5,000

Fred Rogers (Pittsburgh)

1/93Attendance at opening day of the Smile Face Museum in Silver Spring, Maryland, last fall: 100

Smile Face Museum (Silver Spring, Md.)

1/93Number of dummies on display at the Vent Haven Ventriloquism Museum in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky: 642

Vent Haven Ventriloquism Museum (Fort Mitchell, Ky.)

1/93Change, since last year, in the number of members of Congress with business experience: -34

Congressional Quarterly (Washington)

1/93Number of the 110 new members of Congress this year who are unmarried: 26

Congressional Quarterly (Washington)

1/93Percentage of women who say they believe their sexual partner is “very satisfied”: 60

Roper Organization (N.Y.C.)

    Percentage of men who say this: 44

Roper Organization (N.Y.C.)

1/93Price of joining the Official Madonna Fan Club: $29

Official Madonna Fan Club (West Hollywood, Calif.)

1/93Price of an eight-week course in acting for dogs, including room and board, at the Kamer Canine College in L.A.: $4,150

Kamer Canine College (North Hollywood, Calif.)

1/93Number of the four cats who have lived in the White House since 1933 that were owned by Republicans: 1

Presidential Pets, by Niall Kelly (Abbeville Press, N.Y.C.)/Harper’s research

1/93Number of years since there has been no dog in the White House: 71

Presidential Pets, by Niall Kelly (Abbeville Press, N.Y.C.)/Harper’s research