100 world facts from the Economist's

Pocket World In Figures

The Economist's Pocket World In Figures 2010 is out. We
pick 100 of the most interesting facts about our globe here.

By Tom Chivers
Published: 2:54PM BST 17 Sep 2009

Comments 10 | Comment on this article

The French are the sleepiest people on Earth, taking 8 hours 50 minutes to catch 40 winks -
that's 13.25 minutes a wink Photo: GETTY

The Economist’s Pocket World In Figures book reveals the facts and figures of the world.
From the surprising (the average citizen in the United Arab Emirates owns 1.76 mobile
phones) to the inevitable (the French are the sleepiest nation on Earth), it’s all here.

We’ve picked 100 of the most interesting snippets for your perusal.

Matters of life and death

 Men in Afghanistan can expect to live to just 43.4 years old – the lowest in the world.
For women it’s Zimbabwe, at 43.8 years.

 Afghanistan also has the highest death rates, with 19.7 deaths per 1000 population
per year, and the highest infant mortality, with 157 deaths per 1000 live births.
  Japanese women expect to live almost twice as long as Zimbabweans – 86.2 years –
while men in the tiny Pyrenean country of Andorra can look forward to 80.3 years of
low taxes.

 A child born in the United Kingdom can expect to live 79.4 years on average: the
29th highest in the world, level with the Faroe Islands and South Korea.

 Japan’s citizens are the oldest, with an average age of 44.4. The average age in Niger
is just 15.1. The average Briton is 39.7 years old, and worrying about turning 40.

Eating, drinking, smoking

 Venezuelans are the beeriest nation on Earth, consuming an impressive 83 litres

(146 pints) of beer per head annually. Guadeloupe has the biggest taste for bubbly,
with 4.25 bottles of champagne consumed per head per year.

 The Greeks are the biggest smokers, averaging 8.1 cigarettes a day each.

 Turks spend the most time enjoying their meals, with an average 162 minutes per day
spent eating and drinking.

 Brazil grows 2,164,000 tonnes of coffee each year – the most in the world. The
United States drinks the most, consuming 1,262,000 tonnes of beans annually.

 China, predictably enough, produces the most tea – 1,166,000 tonnes – but also
drinks the most, at 828,000 tonnes. The United Kingdom comes a disappointing
sixth with 131,000 tonnes consumed a year.

Working life

 The country with the highest percentage of the population in work is the Cayman
Islands, at 67.7 per cent. The United Kingdom is 30th with 51.1 per cent.

 The West Bank and Gaza have the lowest percentage, with just 22.2 per cent of the
population employed.

 The West African state of Benin has the highest ratio of women to men in the
workforce, with 53.1 per cent of all workers female. Saudi Arabia has the lowest,
with 84.6 per cent of workers male.

The digital revolution

 Canadians are the most likely to own a computer, with 94.3 machines per 100
people.

 Denmark has the highest proportion of broadband subscribers at 35.9 per 100
people.

 Perhaps unexpectedly the United Arab Emirates tops the charts for mobile phone
ownership – a whopping 176.5 phones for every 100 citizens.
Read all about it

 Iceland has both the highest number of daily newspapers sold, at 821 per 1000
population, and the freest press, according to a survey of 50 questions.

 Britain is 12th in the number of newspapers sold, but rated just 23rd on freedom of
the press, level with Namibia and Hungary. The most constrained press freedoms are
in Tunisia.

Is our children learning?

 Cuba has the highest level of spending on education, 13.3 per cent of GDP.
Equatorial Guinea is the lowest at 0.6 per cent.

 Just 26.2 per cent of Malian adults are literate.

 All of the top 15 universities in the world are in either Britain or the US.
Cambridge, Oxford, University College London and Imperial College London
represent the UK; the rest are American.

 Cuba has the highest level of enrolment in tertiary education – at 122 per cent of the
relevant age group – while Rwanda, surprisingly, has the highest at primary level, at
208 per cent.

Population pressures

 China, of course, has the largest population at 1.3 billion people. India is not far
behind at 1.1 billion. The United Kingdom is in 22nd place with a relatively puny
60.0 million.

 By 2025, India and China are expected to be neck-and-neck on 1.4 billion, while the
UK will have grown to 66.6 million.

 Niger has the fastest-growing population, gaining 3.73 per cent a year. Lithuania is
shrinking the fastest, losing 0.7 per cent annually.

 Qatar has the highest ratio of men to women, an astonishing 307 men per 100
women. Latvia has the lowest, with 90 men per 100 women.

 The United States has the most asylum applications of any industrialised nation,
50,700 in 2007. The United Kingdom is joint fourth with Canada at 28,300.

Economical with the truth

 The United States has the biggest economy, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of
$13,751 billion. Japan is a distant second with $4,384 billion. The UK is fifth at
$2,772 billion.
  Luxembourg has the highest GDP per head of population, at $103,040. The United
States drops to 13th on this measure, with $45,590, one place ahead of Britain on
$45,440. Burundi has the lowest, at just $120 dollars per person.

 Luxembourg also has the highest purchasing power, at 174 per cent of the US.
Zimbabwe has the lowest at 0.4 per cent.

 Equatorial Guinea has the fastest-growing economy, growing by 66.2 per cent of
GDP a year. Zimbabwe comes last again, with its economy shrinking by 3.9 per cent
of GDP.

 Zimbabwe also has the highest annual inflation on consumer goods, a massive
24,411 per cent. By comparison, second-placed Ethiopia has just 44 per cent inflation.

 China produces more gold than any other country in the world – 270 tonnes a year.
South Africa mines 156.5 tonnes of platinum annually, while a mighty 3,494 tonnes
of silver comes out of Peru.

An indefinable quality

 Iceland has the highest quality of life according to the Human Development Index,
scoring 96.8 out of 100. The United Kingdom is joint 21st with Hong Kong on 94.2.

 Sierra Leone is the worst place to live by this measure, scoring just 32.9.

 Australia has the greatest gender equality according to the Gender-related

Development Index, scoring 96.3. The UK is 14th with a score of 94.1.

Giving and receiving

 The United States is the largest donor of aid, giving $21,787,000 in grants to other
countries. The United Kingdom is fourth with $9,849,000.

 By percentage of GDP, however, the UK is joint 14th on 0.36 per cent and the US is
joint 24th on 0.16 per cent. Norway is the largest donor, on 0.96 per cent.

 Iraq is the largest recipient of aid, at $9,115,000 in 2007. The West Bank and Gaza
are the neediest per head of population, with $479 per person.

Energy concerns

 China is the biggest producer of energy overall, making the equivalent of 1,749
million barrels of oil. The United States is second with 1,654 million. The United
Kingdom is 16th with 187 million.

 The United States uses the most energy, 2,321 million barrels of oil equivalent.
China is second with 1,879 million. The United Kingdom is 10th with 231 million.

 Saudi Arabia pumps the most oil into the world’s forecourts – a huge 10,846,000
barrels a day – but that is dwarfed by the amount used by the biggest consumer.
 Inevitably, that is the United States, at 19,419,000 barrels a day. The US is also the
third biggest producer at 6,736,000 barrels a day.

 Saudia Arabia is also the holder of the world’s largest remaining known reserves of
oil, at 21 per cent of the world’s total.

 Russia produces the most natural gas, 601.7 billion cubic metres in 2008. The
United States is again the biggest consumer at 657.2 billion cubic metres.

 China is both the biggest coal producer (making the equivalent of 1,414.5 million
tonnes of oil per year) and the biggest consumer, using 1,406.3 million tonnes of oil
equivalent.

Miscellaneous

 Qatar has the least safe drivers, with 9,989 injuries and 33 deaths in road accidents
per 100,000 people.

 The largest number of tourists head to la belle France, at 81,900,000 in 2007.

 Marriages in Guam are the least likely to last, with 5.3 divorces per 1,000 people per
year.

 France is the sleepiest nation on Earth, with its populace sleeping off their punishing
35-hour working week for 530 minutes (8 hours 50 minutes) a day.