Facts & Trends

The United States costs of military and nation-building activities in Afghanistan and Iraq since the attacks of September 11th, 2001, is approaching half a trillion dollars - nearly the same cost as the 13-year-long Vietnam War ...

Americans drink far less today than our predecessors did. In 1830, the average American drank the equivalent of 7.1 gallons of pure alcohol per year. In 2013, by comparison, the average American drank the equivalent of 2.34 gallons of pure ...

Percentage of Americans and Chinese, respectively, who believe their government is “on the side of average citizens”: 12, 80 Who believe their government is “on the side of corporations”: 73, 17 ...

Number of U.S. States that allow the death penalty:  31 Proportion of U.S. police departments that are using body cameras: 1 in 3 ...

All fruit isn’t created equal when it comes to preventing diabetes. A Harvard University study that tracked the diets of more than 185,000 people over 12 years shows that eating strawberries, oranges, peaches, plums, and apricots has no impact on ...

Number of deaths in traffic accidents for every 100,000 vehicles on the road in developed nations: 11 In Ethiopia: 3,865 ...

52: Number of unprovoked shark attacks in the U.S. last year (compared with 20 elsewhere in the world). None were fatal. 28: Number of attacks in Florida, the most of any state. Runners-up were Hawaii (seven), South Carolina (five), California (four) and ...

A family of Norwegian bears broke into a holiday cabin and threw an epic, alcohol-fueled party.  The cabin's owner, Even Nilsen, returned to the cabin to find that the bears had eaten all the food and bitten into more than ...

The almost-bankrupt Italian city of Naples began DNA-testing dog feces on its poop-covered sidewalks, so it can prosecute residents who don’t pick up.  “I know some people find it funny that with all the problems the city has, we would focus ...

Pope Francis has declared Oscar Romero a martyr of the faith, paving the way for the murdered Salvadoran archbishop to be beatified, a step toward sainthood.  A right-wing death squad executed Romero in a hospital chapel in 1980 while he ...