Number of people executed for sorcery in Saudi Arabia since 2011 : 4
Age of an Afghan “war hero” assassinated by the Taliban earlier this year : 11
Number of refugee children who entered Europe in 2015 whose whereabouts are unknown : 10,000
Minimum number of Iraqi emigrants who returned to the country from Europe last year : 3,474
Number of visits President Obama has made to U.S. mosques during his presidency : 1
Portion of Americans who know a Muslim : 1/2
Factor by which the number of Ku Klux Klan chapters in the United States has increased since 2014 : 2.6
By which the number of U.S. black-separatist groups has increased : 1.6
Portion of Americans under the age of 30 who describe themselves as politically independent : 2/5
Who describe themselves as not “politically active” : 4/5
Percentage change since 1993 in the annual number of U.S. babies named Hillary : –81
Ratio of state-level lobbying organizations to state lawmakers in the United States : 6:1
Percentage of Republicans who earn more than $250,000 a year : 2
Whom Democrats estimate earn more than $250,000 a year : 44
Number of historians employed by Wells Fargo to teach investors about the origins of their family wealth : 8
Number of Chinese officials punished last year for violating austerity rules : 49,508
Number of Chinese villagers being relocated to make room for a telescope searching for alien life : 9,110
Factor by which the yearly revenue of the global private space industry exceeds NASA’s yearly budget : 13
Estimated percentage of applicants who will be selected for NASA’s 2017 astronaut class : 0.08
Date on which Oral Roberts University began requiring freshmen to wear Fitbit bracelets : 8/24/15
Number of states that offer public universities financial incentives to produce graduates in STEM fields : 14
Percentage of U.S. science teachers who “emphasize” that global warming is likely due to natural causes : 30
Minimum portion of U.S. teachers who assign homework that requires Internet access : 7/10
Portion of U.S. students from low-income households who do not have broadband Internet access : 2/5
Percentage of rural Indian teachers who are absent on an average school day : 24
Number of elephants employed by Burma’s state-run logging company : 2,700
Average number of trophy animals imported to the United States each year : 126,000
Percentage by which U.S. spending on Mother’s Day gifts exceeds spending on Father’s Day gifts : 67
Percentage change since 2000 in the U.S. divorce rate : –20
In the Chinese divorce rate : +178
Percentage change from 1900 to 2000 in the portion of women over the age of 65 who live alone : +451
Since 2000 : –12
Factor by which a male English professor is more likely than a female to be described as “brilliant” by students : 2
By which a female English professor is more likely to be described as “horrible” : 1.5
Percentage of U.S. women who do not identify as feminists : 33
Who identify as “strong” feminists : 17
Number of body types the Mattel toy company uses for Barbie dolls : 4
Of hairstyles : 24
Number of states in which “cartoon” is the most popular search term for Internet pornography : 4
Figures cited are the latest available as of March 2016.
“Harper’s Index” is a registered trademark.
May Index Sources
1 Human Rights Watch (Amman, Jordan)
2 United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (N.Y.C.)
3 Europol (The Hague)
4 International Organization for Migration (Geneva)
5 White House Press Office (Washington)
6 Pew Research Center (Washington)
7,8 Southern Poverty Law Center (Montgomery, Ala.)
9,10 Harvard Institute of Politics (Cambridge, Mass.)
11 Social Security Administration (Baltimore)
12 Center for Public Integrity (Washington)
13,14 Gaurav Sood (Washington)
15 Abbot Downing (Raleigh, N.C.)
16,17 Xinhua News Agency (Beijing)
18,19 Space Foundation (Colorado Springs)/National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Washington)
20 Oral Roberts University (Tulsa, Okla.)
21 National Conference of State Legislatures (Denver)
22 Eric Plutzer, Pennsylvania State University (University Park)
23 Jessica Rosenworcel, Federal Communications Commission (Washington)
24 Pew Research Center
25 Karthik Muralidharan, University of California, San Diego
26 Khyne U Mar, University of Sheffield (England)
27 Humane Society of the United States (Gaithersburg, Md.)
28 Prosper Insights & Analytics (Worthington, Ohio)
29 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta)
30 National Bureau of Statistics (Beijing)
31,32 Pew Research Center
33,34 Benjamin Schmidt, Northeastern University (Boston)
35,36 Kaiser Family Foundation (Menlo Park, Calif.)
37,38 Mattel Toys (El Segundo, Calif.)
39 Pornhub (Montreal)
