In Germany, private labels account for almost 40% of sales.

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In the 1970s, Readers' Digest Magazine sold as many as 18m copies a month.

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There are roughly 1.5 million home-schooled students in America, a number that has doubled in a decade.

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At present just under 11% of the world's 6.9 billion people are over 60.

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In 2008, India had 4,921 listed companies, second only to the US which had 5,603.

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Some 25% of Americans have no landlines and rely only on mobile phones.

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Every month, users share 4 billion pieces of information and upload 850 million photos along with 8 million videos on Facebook.

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China accounts for 48% of Lenovo's worldwide sales.

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About 20 percent of the world’s power is hydroelectric.

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About one-third of Americans are obese, up from 15% in 1980.

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$383 billion worth patented drugs will be sold around the world this year.

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Britons sent 80 billion texts in 2008.

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The average American was responsible for 11,444 pounds of carbon emission last year.

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Currently, global online brand advertising accounts for $50 billion a year. Offline brand advertising accounts for an estimated $500 billion.

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In 2008, India's aviation industry lost more than $2.5 billion - about 25% of total world airline losses despite carrying only 2% of global traffic.

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Over 49,000 companies were listed on the world's stockmarkets in 2008.

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17 million people in Britain aged over 15 do not use the internet.

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Atheists make up about 8% of America's population.

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As of January 2009, there were 112 virtual worlds designed for under-18s, with another 81 in development.

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Migrant workers sent $328 billion home to their families in 2008, 15% more than in 2007.

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In 2006, adult entertainment clocked up $13bn in retail sales in the US – about $50 per adult.

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In April 2009, 63% of U.S. adults had broadband Internet connections in their homes - up from 55% in 2008.

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Regardless of education, income, marital status or age, happier people surveyed watched about 30 % less TV each week than unhappier participants.

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21% of Twitter accounts are empty placeholders.

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GM makes 65% of its sales outside the US.

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There are some 780,000 same sex couples in the US, around 10% of whom are officially married or in civil partnerships.

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The maximum possible jail sentence under American law is 150 years.

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Russia is the world's second-biggest oil exporter and its biggest gas exporter, yet it sends just 3% of its energy exports to oil-hungry Asia.

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Traffic congestion in 2007 forced urban Americans to travel for 4.2 billion extra hours and buy an extra 2.8 billion gallons of petrol.

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The dollar accounts for 65% of the world's foreign-exchange reserves, only slightly less than a decade ago and well ahead of the Euro's 26% share.

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The state-owned Indian Railways is the world’s largest commercial employer with 1.4 million staff.

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