More from March 2007

Only 13 per cent of Japanese homes have ever been resold, compared to 89 per cent in Britain and 78 per cent in the US. (The Economist, 3rd January 2008)

The proportion of people in developing countries living in absolute poverty has decreased from 29 per cent in 1990 to 18 per cent in 2004. (World Bank)

There are 823 languages spoken in Papua New Guinea, more than any other country in the world. (Limits of Language, by Mikael Parkvall)

One third of all houses in Ireland were built in the last decade. (finfacts)

2006 is the first year in which more French children were born out of wedlock than to married parents. (Reuters, 15th January 2007)

By 2009, each person working in the private sector will be paying more each month into the pension of a civil servant than into their own pension. (centreright.com, 15th January 2008)

In 2006, of the €1bn spent by the EU on farm subsidies, almost a third (€317m) went to Greece. The biggest net loser was Italy, on €300m. France gained €76m and Britain almost as much—€72m. (Prospect research)

Sales of physical music (mainly CDs) fell 19 per cent in the US last year. (The Economist, 10th January 2008)

61 per cent of the 2005 intake of Conservative MPs have voted against the party line in the Commons. (Philip Cowley, University of Nottingham)

For several years, the annual expansion in China's trade has been larger than India's total annual trade. (voxeu.org)

The average British commute is one hour and five minutes. In 2003 it was 35 minutes. (The Guardian, 21st January 2008)

Since October 2006, the Serious Organised Crime Agency's public hotline—manned five days a week—has received just 16 calls. (The Times, 29th November 2007)

For every insurgent killed in Iraq, 250,000 bullets have been fired. (Washington Post, 18th November 2007)

More from February 2007

It takes seven litres of water and 162g of oil to create a one-litre plastic bottle. (The Observer)

A cotton T-shirt takes 27,000 litres of water to manufacture. (The Guardian)

In Venezuela, petrol costs 0.7p a litre. You can fill up a 4x4 for 42p. (The Guardian)

Since 2000, almost £2bn of public money has been spent on IT projects that the Government has since abandoned. (The Guardian)

In 1963, food accounted for 24% of the average household budget; it now accounts for only 9%. (Daily Mirror)

Five million people, or one in 10 adults, spend more than they earn on a monthly basis, according to financial comparison website Uswitch. More, BBC

The average UK home has 4.7 television sets. More, BBC

In Britain, the mean average weekly wage for foreign-born workers is £424, compared with £395 for the native-born. (The Times, 17th October 2007)

The three most common requests by people planning their own funerals are to be cremated with their pet's ashes; to have a mobile phone in the coffin; and to ensure they are dead. (Age Concern)

Ten times as many Chinese people watch Premier League football as do British people. (The Guardian)

January 2007

It takes seven litres of water and 162g of oil to create a one-litre plastic bottle. (The Observer)

A cotton T-shirt takes 27,000 litres of water to manufacture. (The Guardian)

In Venezuela, petrol costs 0.7p a litre. You can fill up a 4x4 for 42p. (The Guardian)

Since 2000, almost £2bn of public money has been spent on IT projects that the Government has since abandoned. (The Guardian)

In 1963, food accounted for 24% of the average household budget; it now accounts for only 9%. (Daily Mirror)

Five million people, or one in 10 adults, spend more than they earn on a monthly basis, according to financial comparison website Uswitch. More, BBC

The average UK home has 4.7 television sets. More, BBC

In Britain, the mean average weekly wage for foreign-born workers is £424, compared with £395 for the native-born. (The Times, 17th October 2007)

The three most common requests by people planning their own funerals are to be cremated with their pet's ashes; to have a mobile phone in the coffin; and to ensure they are dead. (Age Concern)

Ten times as many Chinese people watch Premier League football as do British people. (The Guardian)

December 2007

In 2006 more women (244) than men (234) were ordained as clergy in the Church of England for the first time since the introduction of women priests in 1994. (The Guardian, 14th November 2007)

In central London in the late 17th century, post was delivered ten to 12 times a day. (At Large and at Small: Confessions of a Literary Hedonist, by Anne Fadiman)

Two thirds of the world's people have never seen snow. (Canadian Weather Trivia Calendar 2008)

The Harappan civilisation in what is now Pakistan and northwest India had flushing toilets in houses linked with drains in 2500 BC. (Spiked online, 30th October 2007)

The total value of global mergers and acquisitions in 2006 was $3,861bn - as recently as 1995 it was just $850bn. (Financial Times, 19th June 2007)

In the 1992-93 season, there were 363 English players in the Premier League - 71 per cent of the total. Last season there were 191 - 38 per cent of the total. (Professional Footballers' Association)

In the US, tobacco kills nearly half a million people annually; more than HIV, alcohol, illegal drugs, suicide and homicide combined. (Times Literary Supplement, 28th September 2007)

Only one in every 400 stop and searches carried out under the anti-terrorism laws leads to an arrest, In 2005-06, one force, City of London, carried out 6,846 stops of pedestrians and vehicles without finding enough evidence to justify a single arrest. (The Guardian, 31st October 2007)

China won 63 medals at the 2004 Olympics, 32 of them gold. India won one, a silver in shooting. (Prospect, December)

About 11 per cent of the British population is left-handed - up from 3 per cent a century ago. (Sunday Times, 16th September 2007)

In Britain, eight walkers have died as a result of cow stampedes in the past ten years. (Daily Mail, 29th October 2007)

The only major religion not to endorse abstinence from food on special occasions is Sikhism. (New Yorker, 3rd September 2007)

There were 17.1 million families in the UK in 2006. The average number of children per family has dropped to 1.8. More

The Finns spend more on ice cream than any other European nation, averaging $110 a head in 2005 - just beating the Italians. Britons spend less than half that figure. (Euromonitor)

Despite its oil reserves, 99 per cent of Norway's electricity is produced by hydroelectric sources. (Encarta)

The 2006 World Cup final had a higher US television audience than the 2006 baseball World Series. (New Republic, 17th July 2007)

British families spend as much time eating together today as they did in the 1970s. (Economic and Social Research Council)

The production of a kilogram of beef emits the same amount of CO2 as the average European car driving 250 kilometres. (New Scientist, 21st July 2007)

In the UK half of people aged 55-64 have no retirement funds in place even though 86 per cent know the state pension won’t support them. (Taylor Nelson Sofres Research, November 2007)

Two thirds of the world's people have never seen snow. (Canadian Weather Trivia Calendar 2008)

In Britain, the mean average weekly wage for foreign-born workers is £424, compared with £395 for the native-born. (The Times, 17th October 2007)

A pedestrian anywhere inside Paris's "75" postal code is never more than 500 metres from a Metro station. (International Herald Tribune, 18th June 2007)

Vladimir Nabokov spent seven years as a research fellow in entomology at Harvard. (At Large and at Small: Confessions of a Literary Hedonist by Anne Fadiman)

The Harappan civilisation in what is now Pakistan and northwest India had flushing toilets in houses linked with drains in 2500 BC. (Spiked online, 30th October 2007)

The total value of global mergers and acquisitions in 2006 was $3,861bn—as recently as 1995 it was just $850bn. (Financial Times, 19th June 2007)

In the US, tobacco kills nearly half a million people annually; more than HIV, alcohol, illegal drugs, suicide and homicide combined. (Times Literary Supplement, 28th September 2007)

The two most popular US presidential candidates among donors affiliated to the military are the Republican Ron Paul and the Democrat Barack Obama, both of whom are antiwar. (The Daily Dish, 19th October 2007)

Only one in every 400 stop and searches carried out under the anti-terrorism laws leads to an arrest, In 2005-06, one force, City of London, carried out 6,846 stops of pedestrians and vehicles without finding enough evidence to justify a single arrest. (The Guardian, 31st October 2007)

China won 63 medals at the 2004 Olympics, 32 of them gold. India won one, a silver in shooting. (Prospect, December)

About 11 per cent of the British population is left-handed - up from 3 per cent a century ago. (Sunday Times, 16th September 2007)

In Britain, eight walkers have died as a result of cow stampedes in the past ten years. (Daily Mail, 29th October 2007)

27 per cent of Americans say they have not read a book in the past year; but only 20 per cent of African-Americans. (Harper's, November 2007)

Last year, more women (244) than men (234) were ordained as clergy in the Church of England for the first time since the introduction of women priests in 1994. (The Guardian, 14th November 2007)

In 1990, it was made illegal in Iran for Iranian women to marry Afghan men. (Prospect research)

In central London in the late 17th century, post was delivered ten to 12 times a day. (At Large and at Small: Confessions of a Literary Hedonist, by Anne Fadiman)

Norman Mailer featured as the subject of New Yorker cartoons eight times, but wrote for the magazine only five times. (Emdashes, 12th November 2007)

The three most common requests by people planning their own funerals are to be cremated with their pet's ashes; to have a mobile phone in the coffin; and to ensure they are dead. (Age Concern)

Egyptians, Indians and Turks search for "sex" on Google more than any other nationality. "Hitler" is most popular in Germany, Austria and Mexico; "Nazi" in Chile, Australia and Britain. "David Beckham" gets most hits in Venezuela. (Reuters, 17th October 2007)