HOBSON'S CHOICE

Percentage of the British population working in agriculture in 1980, compared with six per cent in 1930:

3

Percentage of the French population working in agriculture in 1980, compared with 36 per cent in 1930:

8

Percentage of the Spanish population working in agriculture in 1980, compared with 50 per cent in 1930:

14 per cent

Proportion of British households in which no adults are working: 18 per cent

Proportion of British households in which all the adults are working:

63 per cent

Number of unemployed in China:

100 million

Proportion of people in prison in Venezuela who are still awaiting trial:

70 per cent

Amount the US government has been told to pay to the heirs of Abraham Zapruder for the footage he took of President John Kennedy's assassination:

$16m

Number of breast enlargement operations performed in Argentina since 1970, the equivalent of one in every 30 Argentines:

1 million

Number of seahorses sold annually in the world, either dried - for aphrodisiacs, Chinese medicine or curios - or live for domestic aquariums in the US and Europe:

20 million

Number of cars broken into last year by black bears in Yosemite National Park in the US:

1,300

Number of hours a giant anteater sleeps a day:

18

Number of hours a giant anteater dreams a day:

7

Number of minutes a giant sloth, which also sleeps for 18 hours, dreams a day:

70

Number of items of information the senses pass on to the human brain every second:

11 million

Number of items of information consciously processed by the human brain every second:

16

Cost of the takeaway Hugh Heffner ordered flown to his mansion in California from an Indian restaurant in Essex:

pounds 3,500

SOURCES: DARK CONTINENT: MARK MAZOWER, THE ECONOMIST, ATLANTIC MONTHLY, LE MONDE, ART NEWSPAPER, ATLANTIC MONTHLY, MAKING THE BODY BEAUTIFUL: SANDER L GILMAN, TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT, GEOGRAPHICAL, ATLANTIC MONTHLY, NEW SCIENTIST, THE USER ILLUSION: TOR NORRETTRANDERS, EASTERN EYE.

COMPILED BY

WILL HOBSON