Index Archive

Number of tickets issued by the New York Police Department for sex in public parks in 2007

: 432

Number it issued last year

: 6

Percentage by which membership at Planet Fitness gyms has increased since 2010

: 443

Number of times per year that Planet Fitness gyms offer free pizza or bagels

: 24

Percentage of Filipinos who say they like American cuisine

: 93

Of Americans who do

: 91

Median percentage approval rating worldwide of U.S. leadership

: 31

Of Chinese leadership

: 34

Number of European Union countries that have agreed to participate in China’s Belt and Road infrastructure project

: 15

Portion of the Académie française, the official authority on the French language, who are female

: 1/9

Who are non-white

: 1/36

Average amount per student by which predominantly white U.S. school districts receive more funding than non-white districts

: $2,226

Percentage increase in the number of U.S. college admissions consultants since 2005

: 400

Portion of U.S. parents who say they would pay someone to take an admissions test to get their children into a “good college”

: 1/3

Who say they would pay college officials directly

: 1/4

Percentage of self-identified U.S. liberals who say it’s acceptable to “stretch the truth” on résumés to get hired

: 31

Of self-identified U.S. conservatives

: 19

Percentage of male U.S. employees who prefer higher pay to job perks like free lunches, happy hours, or additional paid time off

: 15

Of female U.S. employees

: 34

Percentage of U.S. workers who plan on postponing retirement because of financial concerns

: 52

Percentage by which abusing a voodoo doll of one’s boss lowers feelings of “injustice” among employees

: 33

Average percentage win rate for a presidential administration in court cases involving the adoption of new regulations

: 69

Percentage win rate for the Trump Administration, through March

: 5.6

Percentage change in annual visitors to the National Portrait Gallery since the Obamas’ portraits were unveiled

: +76

Percentage by which a selfie makes one’s nose look larger than it is

: 30

Percentage of facial plastic surgeons who say their patients are motivated by social media

: 57

Percentage decline in climate-change coverage from 2017 to 2018 on U.S. broadcast television news

: 45

Ratio of the number of record-high temperatures in the contiguous United States from 1999 to 2018 to record lows

: 2:1

Rank of last winter in the contiguous United States among the wettest in recorded history

: 1

Portion of Americans aged 18 to 29 who think climate change should be taken into account when deciding to have children

: 2/5

Percentage decrease from 1973 to 2017 in the size of the average American household

: 15.6

Percentage increase in the square footage of living space per person over that same period

: 88

Estimated number of homes that would need to be built annually in California to keep up with population growth

: 180,000

Average number of homes that have been built there each year since 2007

: 80,000

Estimated minimum number of new Bay Area millionaires that will be created this year from tech I.P.O.s

: 5,000

Percentage increase last year in venture-capital investment in A.I. startups

: 72

Percentage of U.S. newspaper circulation accounted for by papers owned by investment groups in 2004

: 2

Today

: 20

Tons of toilet paper that a German paper-products supplier stockpiled in the U.K. this year in case of a “no deal” Brexit

: 661

Harper’s Index

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