EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
106.84 – The number of iPads sold, per minute, by Apple in the three months ending September 29.
205.3 – The number of iPhones sold per minute in the same period. Remarkably, this was below the expectations of Wall Street analysts.
$6.85 billion – The amount that was wiped off Apple’s value on foot of these devastating (!) numbers.
One in four – The number of people in the Spanish labour force who are out of work. Spanish unemployment now officially stands at 25.02 per cent. 52 per cent of those under 25 are out of work, but this is slightly down on the previous figure of 53 per cent – suggesting emigration isn’t only an Irish phenomenon.
441,000 – The average audience of Morning Ireland, according to the latest JNLR listenership figures. That’s down by 3,000 compared to the last time, but still keeps Morning Ireland as the most popular radio show in Ireland.
2,600 – The number of people who called RTÉ’s Saorview helpline on Wednesday after the switchover had taken place. Many of the calls, RTE said, were from people in Northern Ireland who were unable to pick up the RTÉ broadcasts after the switch-off on Wednesday morning.
0.9 per cent – The amount by which property prices rose – rose! – in September. That’s the third month in a row that CSO figures showed prices increasing. House prices in Dublin, though, are still 55 per cent lower than their peak values from 2007.
31 per cent – The amount by which the value of a pension fund could fall over its lifetime, as a result of nothing more than pensions charges. The Department of Social Protection says it’ll encourage funds to be more transparent about their charges so that people can shop around.
30 – The number of games since Ukranian side Shakhtar Donestsk have been beaten – making them Europe’s most in-form team. They’ve won 28 of the games played since then; one of the two draws came against Juventus, the Italian champions who went undefeated in Serie A last year. Which is fair enough, really.
€605,000 – The approximate value of your virginity, if you’re a 20-year-old Brazilian student. Catarina Migliorini was the subject of an online auction for a documentary. A man who participated in the same auction only matched to get €2,320 in exchange for cherry-popping privileges.
€180 billion – The amount by which the EU, as a whole, would have missed its budget deficit limit if it were a single country. If all 27 countries were merged together, their budget would have a deficit equivalent to 4.4 per cent of GDP. The EU’s rules themselves limit each country to 3 per cent, but 17 of the 27 countries exceeded that in 2011.
4.5 per cent – The amount by which sales in pubs increased in September, compared to August. That makes the bar trade the best-performing part of the retail sector in September, when retail as a whole saw an increase of 0.9 per cent.
€121,683.36 – The amount of state funding that Fianna Fáil receives for each of its 19 TDs, on average. That’s almost three times more than the €41,152 that independent TDs get in funding, according to a report from out-of-pocket TD Catherine Murphy.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say