Index Archive

Number of children born last year on Christmas Day in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

: 3

Percentage of African Americans in a September survey who said they feel their standard of living is improving

: 63

Percentage of white Americans who feel this way

: 40

Percentage change in the U.S. suicide rate for every 500 meters above sea level

: +17

Price a British company charges to have a deceased person’s ashes pressed into a package of 30 vinyl records

: $4,704

Estimated loss to Japan’s economy last year from suicides and depression

: $29,000,000,000

Percentage of all food consumed in Cuba that is imported

: 80

Chance that an Indian child younger than five is chronically malnourished

: 1 in 2

Rank of carbonated beverages among the best-selling grocery items in the United States this year

: 1

Rank of baked desserts, pizza, and soda as sources of calories for American children, respectively

: 1, 2, 3

Chance that a heterosexual man who moved in with his partner in 2010 had been unemployed for at least a year

: 1 in 4

Chances that an American believes that Jesus Christ will return to earth by 2050

: 2 in 5

Percentage change since 2008 in the number of Jewish Americans who identify themselves as Republican

: +77

Chance that an American believes Ramadan is the Jewish day of atonement

: 1 in 10

Chance that a U.S. Protestant knows who Martin Luther is

: 1 in 2

Percentage of Americans who believe that Stephen King wrote Moby-Dick

: 4

Number of U.S. states in which it is legal to own a tiger without a license

: 9

Portion of the world’s reindeer herds that are currently in decline

: 4/5

Number of poisonous dead mice the USDA airdropped into Guam this year to eradicate an invasive snake species

: 316

Portion of China’s GDP this represents

: 1/3

Percentage change in the U.S. unemployment rate since June 2009, when the recession officially ended

: +1

Estimated percentage of all U.S. murders that are committed by women

: 10

Percentage of executions for murder since 1977 that were of women

: 1

Percentage of U.S. female senior-level executives who say they have had an affair with a male boss

: 15

Estimated percentage change since 2000 in the number of management positions in U.S. companies held by women

: 0

Percentage change in reading scores for public-school fourth graders since No Child Left Behind became law

: +1

Number of delayed-notice search warrants granted by federal judges last year under the Patriot Act

: 1,150

Number that were related to drug offenses and terrorism, respectively

: 844, 6

Number of times between January and June that Google turned over user information to government investigators

: 4,287

Date a congressional report called the number of government entities to be created by health-care reform “unknowable”

: 7/8/10

Value of economic-recovery bonds the State of Louisiana has sold since Hurricane Katrina

: $5,900,000,000

Percentage of the revenue that has been spent on projects in New Orleans

: 1

Percentage spent on the Lower Ninth Ward

: 0

On the state’s oil industry

: 29

Estimated percentage change in the poverty rate in the developing world since 1990

: ???40

Change if China is not included in this figure

: ???18

Estimated value of Chinese household income that goes unreported

: $1,400,000,000,000

Portion of all pencils, pens, and crayons sold last year that were manufactured in China

: 1/3

Milligrams of acetaminophen inserted into each mouse

: 80

Number of episodes of Happy Days that aired after the one in which the Fonz jumped a shark

: 164

Harper’s Index

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