Estimated percentage change since 2010 in household food consumption in Greece : –15

Amount won by a Czech family in June for completing a reality show that re-created rural life under Nazi occupation : $40,000

Rank of Syria among the world’s largest sources of refugees last year : 1

Number of consecutive years before 2014 that Afghanistan held that rank : 32

Portion of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Iraq and Syria under the control of the Islamic State : 1/3

Number of Twitter users who follow @ISILCats, an Islamic State propaganda account featuring pictures of kittens : 5,188

Portion of anti-Muslim discrimination and harassment in France that is directed at women : 4/5

Number of celebrities, politicians, and athletes currently under investigation by British police for sexual abuse : 261

Number of people fatally shot by British police in the past three years : 2

Average number of people fatally shot by U.S. police each day so far this year : 2.6

Percentage of Americans aged 45 to 59 who believe in American exceptionalism : 65

Of Americans aged 18 to 29 : 45

Number of countries that the United States is bound by treaties to defend : 67

Number that China is : 1

Percentage of the world’s cigarettes that are consumed by China : 44

Portion of children in rural China who have been left behind by one or both parents seeking work in cities : 2/5

Percentage of teenagers in Utah who live with their married biological parents : 57

Of teenagers in Mississippi : 32

Percentage change since 2000 in the rate of severe depression among U.S. children and teenagers : –16

Portion of newly formed heterosexual couples who meet online : 1/5

Of newly formed homosexual couples : 3/5

Factor by which white heterosexual U.S. women are more likely than other U.S. women to receive fertility assistance : 2

Portion of Americans who support legally mandated paid family leave : 4/5

Percentage of workers worldwide who do not have permanent jobs : 75

Chance that a white American aged 16 to 24 is neither working nor in school : 1 in 10

That a black American in that age group is : 1 in 5

Percentage of Americans who say that the ability to speak English is an important part of being a “true American” : 66

Who say that belief in God is : 52

Portion of black Americans who view the Confederate battle flag primarily as a symbol of racism : 3/4

Of white Americans who do : 1/4

Confirmed number of Americans aged 112 or older : 10

Number that age listed as alive on Social Security rolls : 4,700,000

Minimum number of people admitted to U.S. emergency rooms in 2012 with injuries from texting : 2,594

Weight, in pounds, of the average American man in 1960 : 168

Of the average American woman today : 166

Factor by which Americans are more likely to be killed by a cow than by a shark : 27

Percentage change in the annual number of bottlenose dolphins beached on the Gulf Coast since the 2010 BP oil spill : +65

Length, in feet, of a motorized killer whale used to scare sea lions away from a dock in Oregon : 32

Minutes after its first launch in June that the whale capsized : 20

Figures cited are the latest available as of July 2015.

“Harper’s Index” is a registered trademark.

September Index Sources

1 Hellenic Statistical Authority (Piraeus, Greece)
2 Ceská Televize (Prague)
3,4 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva)
5 American Association for the Advancement of Science (Washington)
6 Harper’s research
7 Collectif Contre l’Islamophobie en France (Paris)
8 National Police Chiefs’ Council (London)
9 Police Action Centre (Leicester, England)
10 Washington Post
11,12 Eurasia Group (N.Y.C.)
13 Michael Beckley, Tufts University (Medford, Mass.)
14 Alastair Johnston, Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.)
15 World Health Organization (Beijing)
16 All-China Women’s Federation (Beijing)
17,18 W. Bradford Wilcox, University of Virginia (Charlottesville)
19 Mark Olfson, Columbia University Medical Center (N.Y.C.)
20,21 Michael J. Rosenfeld, Stanford University (Stanford, Calif.)
22 Bernadette Blanchfield, University of Virginia (Charlottesville)
23 CBS News Surveys (N.Y.C.)
24 International Labour Organization (Geneva)
25,26 Measure of America (N.Y.C.)
27,28 Public Religion Research Institute (Washington)
29,30 ORC International (N.Y.C.)
31 Robert Young, Gerontology Research Group (Atlanta)
32 U.S. Social Security Administration
33 Richard Lichenstein, University of Maryland School of Medicine (Baltimore)
34,35 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta)
36 Florida Program for Shark Research (Gainesville)/U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta)
37 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (Silver Spring, Md.)
38,39 Island Mariner Cruises (Bellingham, Wash.)