Number of the 400 wealthiest Americans who count as small-business owners under House Republicans’ definition : 237

Percentage of the Bush tax cuts made permanent by the “fiscal cliff” compromise : 82

Portion of American households that will have a higher tax rate in 2013 as a result of the deal : 3/4

Percentage of likely voters who identified themselves as Tea Party members in 2010 : 24

In 2012 : 8

Portion of its annual budget that the state of Texas gives back in tax incentives to corporations : 1/2

Amount the National Rifle Association’s Victory Fund spent on the 2012 election : $11,159,493

Percentage of that spending that went to support winning candidates : 0.44

Estimated portion of the world’s privately held guns that are owned by Americans : 1/2

Number of U.S. children under the age of thirteen killed by firearms between 2006 and 2011 : 680

Portion of Americans infected with HIV each year who are under the age of twenty-five : 1/4

Projected minimum percentage increase by 2050 in the number of children worldwide with type 2 diabetes : 49

Estimated number of people who died because of high cholesterol in 2010 : 2,000,000

Because of air pollution : 3,200,000

Projected year by which annual firearm fatalities will surpass motor-vehicle fatalities in the United States : 2015

Chance that a U.S. driver admits to having fallen asleep at the wheel in the past thirty days : 1 in 20

Value of supermarket gift cards the City of Los Angeles gave out as part of a one-day gun buyback in December : $155,375

Date of a state supreme court decision that requires the University of Colorado to allow guns on campus : 3/5/2012

Number of students there who have elected to live in dorms designated for those with concealed-weapon permits : 0

Percentage increase since 1982 in the portion of U.S. college students with a “problematic” level of narcissism : 60

Percentage of Americans under the age of thirty who can identify Roe v. Wade as a decision about abortion : 44

Weeks after conception that a proposed Michigan law would allow a fetus to be claimed as a dependent on tax forms : 12

Number of India’s state legislators charged with “crimes against women” : 42

Cost of removing a profile from Potential Prostitutes, a user-sourced photographic database of suspected “offenders” : $99.95

Cost of a four-hour session at a London “cuddle workshop” : $46

Weight in pounds of ram penises shipped to China from an Icelandic slaughterhouse after an October trade agreement : 4,000

Minimum portion of chemical food additives approved by the FDA that the agency has never tested : 3/10

Portion of antimalarial drugs privately sold in sub-Saharan Africa that are fraudulently manufactured : 1/5

Change in years in the life expectancy of a female in sub-Saharan Africa since 1970 : –0.95

Of a female in the Middle East : +16.9

Percentage of people killed by U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan in 2012 who were Taliban or Al Qaeda leaders : 2

Rank of Saudi Arabia among nations with the most viewers per capita of YouTube : 1

Portion of the world’s countries in which Christians face religious harassment : 2/3

Percentage of ongoing deportations dismissed following Obama’s promise to “use discretion” in immigration prosecutions : 4.8

Percentage change in the amount of money awarded to winners of the Nobel Peace Prize since 2011 : –20

Portion of U.S. law-school graduates from the past twenty-five years not working as lawyers : 1/3

Chance a prisoner seeking a commutation of sentence under President Clinton received one : 1 in 90

Under George W. Bush : 1 in 780

Under Barack Obama : 1 in 6,631

March Index Sources



1,2 Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington)

3 Urban–Brookings Tax Policy Center (Washington)

4,5 Rasmussen Reports (Asbury Park, N.J.)

6 New York Times

7,8 Sunlight Foundation (Washington)

9 Small Arms Survey (Norfolk, Va.)

10 FBI Crime Reporting Program (Clarksburg, W.Va.)

11 National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (Atlanta)

12 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta)

13,14 The Lancet (N.Y.C.)

15 Harper’s research

16 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta)

17 Office of the Mayor (Los Angeles)

18 Colorado Supreme Court (Denver)

19 University of Colorado (Denver)

20 Jean Twenge, San Diego State University

21 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (Washington)

22 Michigan House of Representatives (Lansing)

23 Association for Democratic Reforms (New Delhi)

24 Harper’s research

25 Cuddle Workshop (London)

26 Sláturfálag Sudurlands (Reykjavík)

27 Pew Health Group (Washington)

28 Fogarty International Center, National Institute of Health (Bethesda, Md.)

29,30 The Lancet (N.Y.C.)

31 New America Foundation (Washington)

32 YouTube (San Bruno, Calif.)

33 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (Washington)

34 Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (Syracuse, N.Y.)

35 The Nobel Foundation (Stockholm)

36 Marc Gans, UCLA School of Law

37–39 Office of the Pardon Attorney (Washington).