Killer statistic:
Every two days we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003. – Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google.
Question is, of course, what are we going to do with all this information?
Almost 33% of the US workforce will be aged 50+ by the year 2012.
Ref: The Economist
In the mid 1950s 9% of adults were single in the US. The figure is now 44%
Ref: Innovation Watch
In Australia 25% of women will never have children.
Ref: The Australian
By the year 2025 people aged over 60 will outnumber those aged under 25 in the UK.
Ref: Daily Telegraph
There is expected to be a 36% increase in the number of people aged 75+ in Japan between 2005 and 2015. During the same period the number of people aged under 5 years-of-age is predicted to decline by 13%.
Ref: McKinsey Quarterly
Just one person will occupy 34% of households in Japan by the year 2025.
Ref: National Institute of Population and Social Security Research
80% of UK wealth is held by people aged 55+.
Ref: Daily Telegraph
By the year 2020, one fifth of American GDP will be spent on healthcare.
Ref: The Economic Intelligence Unit
In 1970, the average woman had 4.5 children. By 2000, this
figure had fallen to 2.7.
Ref: The Next 100 Years by George Friedman
In 1800, average life expectancy in Europe and the US was about 40. By 2000 it was roughly 80.
Ref: The Next 100 Years by George Friedman
In the 1950s the fertility rate in South Korea was 4.5%.
It is now 1.5%.
Ref: Jacques Attali, A Brief History of the Future
China and India are expected to account for 40% of the global labour market by the year 2030. Meanwhile, the working age population is expected to decline by 23% by
2050 within developed countries.
Ref: World Migration Report 2008
Since 1990, the percentage of young people aged 15-29 has risen by 50% in Libya and Tunisia, 65% in Egypt and 125% in Yemen. Meanwhile Japan is moving in the other direction. By 2055, 41% of the Japanese population will be aged over 65 if current trends continue.
Sources: Middle East – Foreign Affairs, Japan – Reimagining Japan by Chandler, Chhor & Salsberg (Ed McKinsey & Company).
The CEO of Ericsson as predicted that here will be 50 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020.
(From Wired magazine).
Here’s a very interesting statistic. China spends more money on internal security than external defence. Furthermore, the internal security budget is growing faster than the external defence budget. Why would this be so?
Ref: The Economist, March 12-18 edition (page 67).
I heard this on BBC radio a few days ago. It can’t be true. Can it? Apparently, more people have attended Star Trek conventions in the US than have given blood.
While I’m on the health and medicine theme, Boots the Chemist has announced plans to sell a £30 (USD$50) paternity kit. The simple “peace of mind” test will allow partners to check whom a child belongs to. Just watch the nuclear families explode.
A survey has found that most workers in the UK require 19 hours to clear their heads from the previous week’s work. Most do not fully relax until 12.38pm on Saturday and start worrying about work again by 3.55pm on Sunday. Almost 50% of workers check work emails over the weekend and 60% admit to doing work at home over the weekend in order to catch up. Indeed, 40% said that they “would never get their work done” if they didn’t do work at home.
The study was conducted on behalf of a UK hotel chain, Premier Inns. This strikes me as a bit odd. Surely a hotel chain like this would want to conduct research into something like how little sleep the average worker gets or would promote some of the ways guests can relax in their hotels. After all, this is a hotel chain that offers meetings rooms and WiFi so that people can never stop working. Go figure.
Here’s another one from the tarmac at Milan airport.
In 2009 there were 133,000 books published in the UK – a record number. However, just 500 authors (1%) were responsible for 30% of book sales. But if you think that’s a crazy statistic consider this one. In the US 1 in every 17 books sold since 2006 has been written by James Patterson. (From The New Yorker and Prospect magazines).
Here’s a statistic to send a chill down your spine. 20% of American men aged between 25-55 are now unemployed. In the 1960s 95% of the same group had a job. That’s structural change.
In 1976, the poorest 50% of the UK population owned 12% of the national housing stock. By 2003 they owned just 1%.
Ref: Sunday Times (UK)