Hobson's choice

Size, in square miles, of Nunavut, the new territory in the north east of Canada, which from 1 April will be the official and semi-autonomous Inuit homeland: 136,000

Number of Brazil's indigenous Indian population still alive, 30 per cent of whom suffer severe malnutrition and hunger: 300,000

Number of people who died of tuberculosis in Russia in 1996: 24,877

Life expectancy of Russian males: 58

Number of deaths in England in 1997 caused by heroin: 167

Number of deaths in England in 1997 caused by methadone: 344

Percentage of crimes in France committed by under 18s: 25

Number of neighbourhoods in France which police admit "having difficulty in entering" because of violence by juveniles: 167

Number of American adults who have permanently lost the right to vote through being sentenced to imprisonment: 4 million

Length, in minutes, of the version of Mary Poppins shown on Iranian television after all the sections showing women dancing or singing had been censored: 45

Years since Japanese clinical tests on the birth control pill began, without it yet being approved for sale: 38

Months since Japanese clinical tests on Viagra began, it now being approved for sale: 6

Conception date recommended by Richard Fisher, co-author of Making Babies, for parents wishing to have a child on 1 January 2000: 9 April 1999

Average cost of a funeral in the US: $4,700

Percentage of Americans who "don't shop around" when choosing funeral arrangements: 90

Number of new product lines launched a year by Tesco: 1,000

Amount McDonald's spent on advertising in 1997: $548.7m

Compiled by Will Hobson

SOURCES: Times Higher Education Supplement, Index on Censorship, Atlantic Monthly, Economist, Office of National Statistics, New Republic, Newsweek, Nation, Guardian, Wall Street Journal