In fact

The Dutch smoke more than anyone in the developed world—around one in three adults are regular smokers. [The Guardian, 30th July 2005]

From 1946-78, South Korea received nearly as much US aid as Africa. [New Yorker, 25th July 2005]

Ten years after graduation, 44 per cent of 1980 female Harvard graduates who had married kept their own name, while just 32 per cent of 1990 graduates kept theirs. [Harvard Gazette, 26th August 2004]

Per capita, Australia emits 30 per cent more greenhouse gases than the US. [Adam Smith Institute]

5.8 per cent of people ever born are alive today. [Population Reference Bureau]

Since the 7th July bombings, tube passenger numbers have dropped by 15 per cent on weekdays and 30 per cent on weekends. Bus numbers are steady. [The Guardian, 4th August 2005]

There are 6,000 CCTV cameras on the London Underground, but only 900 that record permanently on the Paris metro and RER rail network. [The Economist, 13th July 2005]

On average, Americans are more than four times as likely to move house over a year than the Japanese. [Slate, 18th July 2005]

2 per cent of the electricity used by a lightbulb is converted into light, the rest into heat. [Countdown to a fairer world, New Internationalist]

When an unprotected PC running Windows goes online, there is a 50 per cent chance it will be "compromised"—pick up a virus, spyware or some another malicious infection—within 12 minutes. [Sophos]

There is no word for "please" in Gujarati [New Statesman, 25nd July 2005]

More Ethiopian doctors are practising in Chicago than in Ethiopia. [The Economist, 13th July 2005]