Salient

Pecking Order

By Salient | 28 May, 2007

Percentage increase in the amount the government has spent on each New Zealand man, woman and child since 2000: 44

Increase expected in 2011 compared to the present day: 15

Percentage increase in core Government spending since 2000: 32

Estimated percentage of US household spending that is controlled or influenced by children under 14: 47

Average number of lego pieces owned by each person worldwide: 75

Percentage of Kiwi children living in poverty: 7.5

Estimated median personal wealth worldwide: $2,965.00

Minimum number of WINZ staff who, since 2002 have received a benefit while working: 21

Amount that Iran’s tourism ministry says it pays travel agents for every Westerner they bring to the country: $28

Amount it pays for an Asian: $14

Number of wars that have been fought between two countries that both have McDonald’s restaurants: 2

Number of states, provinces, or territories of the United States, Canada, and Mexico that lack a McDonalds: 1

Population per square kilometer of that territory, the Nunavut region of Canada: 0.04

Percentage of Kiwis who prefer to buy products made in New Zealand: 75

Percentage of newly registered doctors who are overseas-trained: 80

Percentage of Americans who have a favorable view of George W. Bush: 24

Percentage of Americans who feel that America is “on the right track”: 25

Percentage of men who think men are safer drivers than women: 57

Percentage of women who agree: 27

Number of flights to Gisborne out of 1000 in which birds hit the plane: 10

Ratio of reporters who covered John Glenn’s 1998 shuttle flight to those who covered his first space flight in 1962: 7:1

Percentage increase in cell phone ownership since 2003 for 10-year-old Kiwi kids: 123

Age at which those under 30 think a person becomes old: 67

Age at which those over 60 think a person becomes old: 77

Apparent age, in DNA, of Dolly the cloned sheep when she was three years old: 9

Number of Japanese couples who used Dolly in their wedding photo before researchers ended the practice: 1

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SOURCES: 1, 2. Rodney Hide press release/Salient research; 3. Rodney Hide press release; 4. McNeal and Kids; 5. Lego North America; 6. Dr Gay Keating; 7. World Institute for Development Economics Research; 8. New Zealand Herald May 20 2007; 9. 10. Islamic republic news agency; 11. American Cynic (April 7, 1997); 12, 13. McDonald’s (Oak Brook, Ill.)/McDonald’s Canada (Toronto); 14. http://www.buynz. org.nz; 15. Sunday Star Times 20 May 2007; 16, 17, 21. Harpers Magazine; 18, 19. www.usatoday.com/snapshot/news/; 20. NZ Herald May 20 2007; 22. http://www. censusatschool.org.nz; 23, 24. American Demographics (August 1998); 25, 26. Roslin Institute (Roslin, Scotland).