Statistics

World Population

How fast is the world's population growing?

The world population reached 1 billion around 1800 (that's about 6 to 10 thousand years of human history).

The world population reached 2 billion around 1930 (that's 130 years after the 1 billion mark).

The world population reached 6 billion in 1999 (that's 4 billion increase in less than 70 years).

The US Census Bureau estimates that the world population will reach 7 billion in 2012 (that's a 1 billion increase in 13 years).

John F. Kennedy speaks to a large crowd in Berlin, Germany (Source: Kennedy Library)

Men's Best Friend: A Sleeping Partner

"If I were one of the 47%, I'd be more comfortable!"

A survey, published in The New York Times, states that 47% of dog owners in America sleep with their dogs.

Patience

85% of consumers waiting for customer support on the phone have yelled and sworn (USA Today).

Belief in Evolution No Longer Evolving

40% of American adults believe in the theory of evolution.

Gun Control

April 2009 marked the lowest percentage of Americans (29%) who believe that private citizens should not be allowed to carry handguns (compare to 60% in 1959) (Gallup Poll).

Also a Gallup Poll conducted in April 2009 revealed that Americans are evenly divided: 49% of Americans say America needs stricter gun laws; 49% say America does not need stricter gun laws.

Taxes

Size of US tax code has increased by about 650% since its inception in 1913.

US tax code is ten times the size of the Bible.

Afghanistan

70% of Americans believe that the Taliban will take control over Afghanistan if the US troops withdraw (Gallup Poll, 2009).

Christianity on a Decline

According to the Gallup poll, in 2009, 77% of Americans claim Christianity as their religion (down from 91% in 1948).

World Hunger

A Gallup poll study included 34 countries in Africa, 26 in North and South America, 42 in Asia, and 34 in Europe found the following percentages of households who have gone hungry sometime in a 12-month period:

Foster System in America

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, on September 30, 2006, there were 510,000 children in the foster system (a decline from 559,000 on September 30, 1998).

The age with the highest number of children in the foster system is 16 (42,272 out of the 510,000 are 16-year olds).

Maltreatment of Children

The US Department of Health and Human Services estimated that 794,000 children were maltreated in 2007 in the US (48.2% boys; 52.5% girls; 0.3% unknown gender). About 1/3 of these maltreated children were ages 4 and under.

The top 4 types of child maltreatment in 2007 were the following: 59.0 percent were neglected, 10.8 percent were physically abused, 7.6 percent were sexually abused, and 4.2 percent were psychologically abused.

Agriculture: Livestock

The US produced 182 billion pounds of milk in 2006.

The following were the number of livestock in the US between December 2006 and January 2007 according to the US Department of Agriculture:

The number of cattle and calves on January 1, 2007, was 97 million.

The number of pigs and hogs on December 1, 2006, was 62.5 million.

The number of sheep and lambs on January 1, 2007, was 6.19 million.

Agriculture: Crop

According to the US Department of Agriculture, the top three crops in the US are the following:

Corn: 78.3 million acres in the US in 2006 were used to plant corn and produced 10.5 billion bushels.

Soybean: 75.5 million acres in the US in 2006 were used to plant soybeans and produced 3.19 billion bushels.

Wheat: 46.8 million acres in the US in 2006 were used to plant wheat and produced 1.81 billion bushels.

AIDS

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2007, there were 35,962 diagnosed with AIDS. This brings the total number of AIDS diagnoses in the US and the district of Colombia to 1,018,428.

Most of those diagnosed with AIDS were males. The following is a breakdown of the 1,018,428 number: 810,676 cases were males; 198,544 cases were females; and 9,209 cases were children under 13.

Alcohol Abuse and its Cost

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) estimated the cost for alcohol abuse in the United States in 1998 to be $184,636 millions (the cost includes healthcare and prevention treatments, loss of productivity and earnings, crime and crashes).

According to the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration, alcohol-related traffic crash fatalities in the US have declined since 1882.

Homeless Veterans

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, about 25% of the homeless in America are veterans--that is, 196,000 homeless veterans.