l Each year, 30,000-80,000 meteorites land on earth. [Natural History Museum]
l China emits more carbon than the entire EU. [Global Environmental Outlook 2000]
l In 1995, no GM crops were being grown in the US. Today, there are 50m acres of farmland growing them. [Civilization, Aug/Sept 1999]
l Ninety-five per cent of filed documents remain filed forever. [Faster, James Gleick]
l Only 38 per cent of east Germans like living in a democracy, while 43 per cent of west Germans have never been to the former East Germany. [Max]
l Of the world's languages, 96 per cent are spoken by only 4 per cent of the people. [David Crystal, p56]
l During the war in Bosnia, Sarajevo took 3,000 shells a day. During the war in Chechnya, Grozny took 4,000 shells an hour. [The New Republic, 13th Sept 1999]
l In Berlin, the annual arts budget is four times the arts budget for the whole of England. [Peter Hall, The Guardian, 18th Sept 1999]
l In Britain, one in four people suffer from chronic halitosis. [British Dental Association/The Business]
l In China, 500 women commit suicide every day. It is the only country where female suicides outnumber male suicides. [Utne Reader Sept/Oct 1999]
l In 1998, British book sales to Bhutan were worth ?110,000, an increase of 2,045 per cent since 1996. [The British Council]
l Humans share 35 per cent of their genes with daffodils. [Steven Rose, valedictory address at Open University]
l One per cent of the global population has been to college. [International Herald Tribune, 12th Oct 1999]
l In the US, from 1997 to 1998, 1,840 girls under 18 had breast implants. [The Ecologist, Oct 1999]
l Israel publishes ten times more scientific and technical articles per person than the US, the closest runner-up. [Foreign Policy, Fall 1999]
l ER is the most expensive US television programme to advertise in, costing $565,000 for 30 seconds. [Adbusters, Winter 1999]
