Italy recently became the first nation in history where there are more people over the age of 60 than there are under the age of 20. [International Herald Tribune, 11th July 1998]
Germany has about six times more tanks than Britain, while Taiwan will soon have the same number of frigates as the Royal Navy. [Jane's Fighting Armies; Jane's Fighting Ships]
In 1991, 35 per cent of Americans believed that global warming was a serious problem. By 1996, the number had dropped to 22 per cent. [The Atlantic Monthly, June 1998]
In the eight years since the end of the cold war, there have been 504 resolutions before the UN Security Council. During the previous 45 years there were a total of 659. [Alan Munro, vice-chairman of the British Red Cross Society]
Of all internet users, 63 per cent are male and 37 per cent female. [The Internet and Poverty, Panos, June 1998]
In Afghanistan, the Taliban regime rejected 15 tonnes of aid-including blankets and tents-for survivors of an earthquake because it came from Israel. [Far Eastern Economic Review, 9th July 1998]
Three quarters of the world's telephones can be found in just eight industrialised countries. [The Internet and Poverty, Panos, June 1998] In 1995, of the 200,000 Britons who have left the country for good, nearly 50 per cent went to continental Europe and only 17 per cent to the US. [The Guardian, 11th July 1998]
In London, there were 160 murders last year. Of these, 139 were solved. [The Guardian, 11th July 1998]
People really are chewing more gum. The value of the British chewing gum market has more than doubled since 1991, from ?91m to ?214m. [The Independent, 12th July 1998]
During the 1980s, insurance losses caused by extreme weather events averaged $2 billion a year; in the 1990s they have have been averaging $12 billion a year. [The Atlantic Monthly, June 1998]
One quarter of men regularly forget family birthdays, as opposed to 4 per cent of women. [The Guardian, 1st July 1998]
Dutch women are now working fewer hours than they did in 1986. [BBC World Service]
2 per cent of all households in Britain suffer 41 per cent of all break-ins. [The Independent, 10th July 1998]
Britain has the highest proportion of men with a vasectomy anywhere in the world. [New Scientist, 11th July 1998]
Life expectancy in Rwanda is 22.6 years. [The Statesman's Yearbook, 1998-99]
