By the age of five, children have acquired 85 per cent of the language they will have as adults. [John Bastiani, Frederick Constable lecture at the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce]
Nato Europe spent about $30 billion less in 1995 than in 1985. Over the same period, Luxembourg has increased defence spending by 44 per cent, Turkey by 67 per cent, and Portugal by 34 per cent. [The World Today, June 1996]
Switzerland is the second largest external trade partner of the European Union and its second largest inward investor (in both cases behind the US). [Jacques de Watteville, head of economic department, Swiss embassy, London]
Eleven million tourists came to London in 1995, spending a total of ?6.5 billion. The largest single group-about 20 per cent-are Americans. [Trevor Phillips, Greenwich festival lecture]
The OECD country with the lowest number of annual road deaths per head of population is Iceland. The country with the highest number is Portugal. [OECD in Figures, 1996]
In 1975 the average job tenure for men was 10.4 years and 6.3 for women. Nearly two decades later, in 1992, the average for men had declined only slightly, to 9.5 years; for women it remained unchanged. [Simon Burgess and Hedley Rees, Economic Journal]
London produces 15 per cent of the UK's GDP. [Trevor Phillips, Greenwich Festival lecture]
