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Nelson Mandela with Charlie Haughey, Dick Spring and Pronsias de Rossa in June 1990. Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland

Mandela, the NSA and amazeyballs: The week in numbers

Plus: How much does the average family with two children spend on childcare every year?

EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.

5,000,000,000 – The number of phone call records the US National Security Agency gathers information on every single day, apparently.

44,000,000 – The number of people living with dementia around the world, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International. The figure has been predicted to rise to 135 million by 2050.

7,000,000 – The amount of damage in euros that Dublin man Andrew Shannon was accused of causing to a Claude Monet painting at the National Gallery of Ireland. A jury failed to reach a verdict in Shannon’s case this week after deliberating for almost nine hours.

16,500 – The amount in euros that the average family with two children spends on full-time childcare every year, according to a new study.

9,375 – The number of days that Nelson Mandela spent in jail after being sentenced to life imprisonment on 12 June 1964 for sabotage. He died this week at the age of 95.

2,300 – The number of staff in Marks and Spencer stores in Ireland. Employees went on strike yesterday at the company’s 17 shops in protest over the closure of the staff pension plan.

71 – The percentage of people who support new legislation to bring in plain cigarette packaging.

18  - The number of days until Christmas.

5 – The percentage of the world’s languages that exist online.

3 – The number of children that famed Chinese film director Zhang Yimou has with his wife. Zhang is being sued by two lawyers for breaking China’s one-child policy.

3 – The number of times that the word ‘amazeyballs’ was said in the Dáil on Thursday as TDs tried to figure out exactly what the word meant.

Want more? Check out our previous ‘In numbers’ pieces >

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