Rank of Canada among countries resettling the most refugees in 2018 : 1
Minimum number of years for which the United States previously held that
distinction : 59
Percentage of Canadians who will return a lost wallet containing money : 64
Of Americans who will : 57
Number of U.S. states that require permits for children’s lemonade stands : 34
Minimum age at which citizens of the Netherlands can request euthanasia, with their parents’ permission : 12
Number of Dutch 12- to 17-year-olds who have requested and received euthanasia since 2005 : 14
Estimated portion of people in the world who were married as children : 1/10
Number of U.S. states with laws permitting the chemical castration of convicted
sex offenders : 8
With laws mandating it in certain cases : 1
Percentage of Americans who say it’s hard to know what speech others will find offensive : 48
Estimated percentage of active police officers who use racist, bigoted, or violent language on Facebook : 20
Of retired police officers : 45
Average number of times per day the television series Cops aired in the United States this spring : 9
Percentage of U.S. traffic stops that end in arrest : 2
That end in arrest on Cops : 92
Number of the 15 hottest U.S. states that lack universal air-conditioning
in their prisons : 13
Percentage of state prisoners who are incarcerated for violating parole or probation : 45
Percentage of those prisoners whose violations did not involve the commission
of a crime : 55
Percentage of non-L.G.B.T.Q. Americans in 2016 who said they were comfortable interacting with L.G.B.T.Q. people : 63
Who said so last year : 45
Portion of U.S. gay and lesbian adults who are out to most of their friends and
family members : 3/4
Of U.S. bisexual adults who are : 1/5
Percentage of U.S. bisexual adults who are in relationships with partners of
the opposite sex : 88
Factor by which U.S. men are more likely than women to say they are willing to have sex on the first date : 6
Estimated portion of U.S. heterosexual women who have gone on a date
for free food : 1/4
Date on which New Zealand released its national budget : 5/30/2019
On which the model featured on its cover left the country because she couldn’t afford to live there : 12/3/2018
Percentage increase since 2015 in U.S. job postings offering unlimited
vacation time : 178
Percentage by which the federal minimum wage is worth less today than it
was in 1968 : 31
Number of years for which the federal minimum wage has remained unadjusted : 10
Percentage of U.S. workers over 50 who lose longtime jobs before they are prepared to retire : 56
Percentage of those workers who never recover their earning power : 90
Percentage change since 1981 in the number of annual U.S. mergers and
acquisitions : +104
In the number of annual antitrust investigations undertaken by the
Justice Department : –33
Percentage increase since 2016 in the value of federal government contracts with temp agencies : 109
Number of pages of FBI files that were made public in June pertaining to a Bigfoot investigation : 22
Percentage of Americans who think it’s “too much” to expect the average person to recognize made-up news and information : 56
Who think it’s “too much” to expect the average person to recognize satire : 34
September Index Sources
1, 2 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Washington)
3, 4 Christian Zünd (Zurich)
5 Country Time (NYC)
6, 7 Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (The Hague)
8 UNICEF (NYC)
9, 10 Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (Beaverton, Ore.)
11 Pew Research Center (Washington)
12, 13 Plain View Project (San Francisco)
14 Pineapple Street Media (NYC)
15 Frank Baumgartner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
16 Pineapple Street Media
17 Harper’s research
18, 19 Council of State Governments Justice Center (NYC)
20, 21 GLAAD (NYC)
22–24 Pew Research Center
25 YouGov (NYC)
26 Brian Collisson, Azusa Pacific University (Calif.)
27 New Zealand Treasury (Wellington)
28 Vicki Freeman (Gold Coast, Australia)
29 Indeed (Austin, Tex.)
30, 31 Economic Policy Institute (Washington)
32, 33 Urban Institute (Washington)
34, 35 U.S. Department of Justice
36 National Employment Law Project (Washington)
37 Federal Bureau of Investigation
38, 39 Pew Research Center
