During the second world war, it cost the Entente powers £26,807 to kill an enemy soldier, while it cost the Central powers just £8,212.[The Pity of War, Niall Ferguson]
In the 1930s and 1940s-during the depression and the second world war-88 per cent of all published songs were love songs. [The Economist, 26th September 1998]
In the US this century, five times more people have been killed in traffic accidents than have died in war. Total fatalities on the road up until 1997 were 2.98m compared with war deaths totalling 605,000. [Prospect research]
In São Paulo, 10 per cent of all homicides are committed by police officers. [Veja]
In 1996, there were 177,225 abortions in England, one for every four children born. [The English, Jeremy Paxman]
Over 50 per cent of parents of children at private schools were themselves state-educated. [The Sutton Trust]
Less than 2 per cent of people living in Africa have a telephone. [Die Zeit]
If Oxbridge entrance reflected A-level performance, the ratio of entrants from British schools would be 32 per cent from independents and 68 per cent from state schools, which compares to an actual ratio of 51 per cent to 49 per cent.[The Sutton Trust]
The average size of women's breasts in Britain has increased in recent decades, from a 34B in the 1950s to a 36C today. [Janice Mee, De Montfort University]
In 1997, 30m acres of genetically modified crops were sown around the world, up from 4-6m acres in 1996. [Panos, October 1998]
18 per cent of voters think that William Pitt the Younger is a member of the shadow cabinet. [The Week, 10th October 1998]
According to the main supermarket chains, one in three purchases in their shops is unplanned. [The Week, 10th October 1998]
