Geneva, 13 April 1999
ECE/STAT/99/1
EVEN FOR
PEOPLE WHO HATE FIGURES
At last, a statistical book even
the numerically challenged will appreciate. The United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) publishes its third issue
of Trends in Europe and North America.
Turkey is the only
country in the UN/ECE region where men actually outnumber
women. Turkish women=s life expectancy is exceptionally low.
In Sweden, Estonia,
Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Latvia and
Switzerland, more than one third of the population lives
alone. In Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, between one
third and one half of all households consist of at least
five people.
Births outside marriage
have increased in all countries since 1980. In the
Scandinavian countries it is about half of all births and
in the United Kingdom about one third. Switzerland (8%)
and Greece (4%) have among the lowest rates of births
outside wedlock.
With only about a third
of women in the labour force, Spain and Turkey are among
the UN/ECE countries with the lowest participation of
women. At the other end of the scale, in Belarus more
than half the total labour force consists of women.
The United States and
Switzerland spend more than five times as much per
student in higher education than Greece.
Half of the homes in the
United Kingdom were built before 1945, while 29% of
Turkish homes were built after 1985.
One litre of unleaded
petrol costs 37 US cents in the United States, but the
equivalent of US$ 1.30 in Norway.
Each year 20 persons or
more are killed on the road per 100 000 population in
Latvia, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Greece and
Slovenia, against 4 in Iceland and Malta.
In Canada there are 14.1
ha of forest per capita, in Israel and in the Netherlands
the corresponding figure is 0.02 ha.
In the US there are over
2 000 radio receivers per 1 000 population and about
800 television sets. In Armenia there are only 5
radios and in Bosnia and Herzegovina only 55 TV sets per
1 000 population.
The UN/ECE region
accounts for three quarters of the world=s Internet users. The highest
number can be found in Iceland, Finland and Norway where
more than one in ten inhabitants is an Internet user.
With one mobile phone
for every four inhabitants, the Nordic countries are far
ahead of most other western countries, including the
United States.
While Americans pay on
average 9 cents for a local phone call, a similar call in
Europe can cost up to 24 cents (Switzerland).
With a production of
about 140 films per year, France produces more than twice
the European average, but three times less than the
United States (420).
With more than 60 cinema
seats per 1 000 population, Belarus and Ukraine have the
highest number of seats in the UN/ECE region, except for
San Marino, which has as many as 72.
More book titles are
published in the United Kingdom (101 764) than in the
United States (62 039).
There are more than 1
million prisoners in both Russia and the United States.
Two thirds of the homes
in the United Kingdom, Netherlands and the United States
are equipped with security measures; but less than one
third of the homes in Finland and Switzerland.
The Swiss have Europe=s highest police budget: $287 per
capita.
The number of homicides
recorded per 100 000 population is twice as high in
Russia and Estonia as in the United States.
For further information,
please contact:
Mr. Tom Griffin
Director, Statistical
Division
United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe (UN/ECE)
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10,
Switzerland
Tel: (+41 22) 917 41 44
Fax: (+41 22) 917 00 40
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.unece.org/stats/trend/trend_h.htm
Priced at US$ 40, the
publication Trends in Europe and North America 1998/1999 -
The Statistical Yearbook of the Economic Commission for
Europe may be ordered through the United Nations
publications sales agents or direct from the United Nations
sales offices in New York or Geneva (see addresses below).
Please quote ISBN number 92-1-116698-5 and sales number
E.98.II.E.22.
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