- Europe's merchant ships emit around a third more carbon than aircraft do. [The Economist, 10th June 2006]
- During a typical experiment, the Culham nuclear fusion plant in Oxfordshire consumes 2 per cent of the entire electricity capacity in Britain. [Prospect, page 39]
- Italy and Saudi Arabia are the only two teams in the World Cup whose squads are entirely home-based. [BBC One]
- On average, countries that win the World Cup add 0.7 per cent to their economic growth. [ABN AMRO]
- There have been more translations of Kant into Persian over the last decade than into any other language. [New Republic, 1st June 2006]
- In 2005, Tesco controlled 31 per cent of Britain's grocery sector and 13 per cent of retail sales. Wal-Mart controlled 14 per cent of the US grocery sector and 10 per cent of the retail market. [Prospect research]
- More than 30 per cent of the technology firms created in Silicon Valley since the 1980s were founded by entrepreneurs with Indian or Chinese roots. [The Economist, 6th May 2006]
- Serbia produces almost a third of the world's raspberries. [US department of agriculture]
- The three most corrupt US states, measured by convictions, are Alaska, Mississippi and Louisiana. The least corrupt are Colorado, Wisconsin and Nebraska. [Global Corruption Report 2005]
- Mothers, on average, spent the same time on childcare in 2003 as they had done in 1965. [The Economist, 15th April 2006]
- In 1985, a third of under-25s in Britain owned their own home. Now the figure is under a quarter. [The Observer, 21st May 2006]
- The Da Vinci Code is the bestselling book in French history. A quarter of the population is estimated to have read it. [Business Week, 17th May 2006]
