Index Archive

Number of American civilians who died worldwide in terrorist attacks last year

: 8

Minimum number of people living in the flood tunnels beneath Las Vegas

: 300

Percentage of U.S. households that are shared by more than one family

: 13

Date on which student loans first passed credit cards among the largest sources of private debt in the United States

: 6/30/10

Who have smoked marijuana

: 21

Percentage of U.S. high school seniors who have smoked a cigarette in the past month

: 19

Estimated number of U.S. colleges that have Quidditch teams

: 81

Percentage of United Kingdom residents accepted into Oxford University’s undergraduate class last year who are black

: 1

Portion of these in which the word “Facebook” appeared in the court filing

: 1/5

Number of divorces in Britain in 2009 that were processed by Divorce-Online.co.uk

: 7,316

Minimum number of cockfighting-advocacy groups operating in Texas

: 3

Estimated number of people caned in Malaysia every year

: 10,000

Percentage who said they “took care of it” themselves

: 65

Chance that a female West Point cadet was a victim of “unwanted sexual contact” last year

: 1 in 10

Percentage of victims who reported such incidents

: 14

Estimated percentage change since 2000 in the U.S. defense budget, not including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

: +80

Minimum number who died after being struck by lightning

: 29

Estimated spending by Afghans on bribes last year

: $2,500,000,000

Portion of the country’s GDP to which this figure is equivalent

: 1/4

Average bribe

: $158

Percentage of Americans who say they believe the war in Afghanistan has been worth fighting

: 34

Liters of Saddam Hussein’s blood used to ink a copy of the Koran completed in 2000

: 24

Price for a cup of ice cream at the Ice Pack, an Iranian-owned dessert franchise, in Baghdad

: $2.50

Price for a hamburger at the Freedom Restaurant in the Green Zone

: $3

Number of companies in which Senate Armed Services Committee staffers are prohibited from owning stock

: 48,096

The senators themselves

: 0

Term with the largest percentage gain in number of searches between 2009 and 2010

: ???shellacking???

Of “pragmatic”

: 4

Rank, in 2010, of the term “austerity” among the most commonly requested definitions in Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary

: 5

Number of suicides last year in one Indian state that a government investigation attributed to unpaid microfinance debts

: 54

Chance that a U.S. $100 bill is currently held outside the country

: 1 in 2

Years since recordkeeping began in which this figure has been lower

: 0

Percentage of all global IPO money last year that was raised in the United States

: 17

Number of the four top-spending congressional candidates in the 2010 elections who lost

: 3

Estimated percentage of New Hampshire’s bat population that died in 2010

: 65

Estimated number of red-winged blackbirds that fell dead from the sky in Arkansas on New Year’s Eve

: 4,500

Pounds consumed by animals raised for human consumption

: 28,808,023

Pounds of antibiotics produced in the U.S. in 2009 that were consumed by humans

: 7,275,254

Amount the U.S. economy loses for each murder committed, according to an Iowa State University study

: $17,000,000

Portion of single or widowed Americans over 65 who receive all their income from Social Security

: 1/4

Harper’s Index

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