In 2008 the median size of a new home in the US shrank for the first time in 13 years.

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China has a staggering $2.4 trillion in foreign exchange reserves - enough to buy 2/3rds of all NASDAQ-quoted companies.

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Fortune 500 companies now have 98 R&D facilities in China and 63 in India.

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Some 45% of firms in the Fortune 500 were born in recessions.

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By 2020 the internet will add $3.8 trillion (£2.5 trillion) to the global economy, exceeding the gross domestic product of Germany.

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The total EU budget is less than 2% of the Union's GDP.

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Only about 400,000 more Americans were employed in December 2009 than in December 1999, while the population grew by 30 million.

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In 2009, China overtook Germany to become the world's largest exporter and its share of world exports jumped to almost 10%, up from 3% in 1999.

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At 0.2% of GDP, Germany's 2009 'cash-for-clunkers' stimulus programme cost more, relative to the size of the economy, than that of any other country.

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Car ownership in most of western Europe is over 500 per 1000 people. In America, it is 800 per 1000 people.

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Chinese household savings reached almost 25% of GDP in 2008, helping finance investment of an unprecedented 40% of GDP.

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An extra 10 phones per 100 people in a typical developing country boosts GDP growth by 0.8 percentage points.

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Between 1956 and 1981 an average of 24 firms dropped out of the Fortune 500 list every year. Between 1982 and 2006 that number jumped to 40.

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In India, domestic savings amounted to almost 28% of GDP in the year to March 2008.

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In 2008, exports from China accounted for only 34% of GDP.

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In the first quarter of 2009 in America, 20,251 companies filed for bankruptcy - a 52% jump from the same period last year.

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Between 1977 and 2005, 5% of American jobs were destroyed each year - as firms closed, cut back or were taken over by new ones created by start-ups.

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In the US, tax revenues add up to less than 30% of GDP.

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Internet business contributes 2.1%, or $300 billion, to the total GDP of the U.S.

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Median pay for chief executives of S&P 500 companies fell 6.8% in 2008.

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