July 1991, Page 55

Figure It Out

Compiled by Parker L. Payson

Population of Bangladesh, compared to US population: 1/2 ¹

Area of Bangladesh, expressed in terms of US area: 1/65 ²

Percentage paid by Saudi Arabia of $218 million humanitarian aid pledged to Bangladesh by 27 countries: 49 ³

Estimated decline in Egyptians' personal income anticipated between 1991 and 1994 because of IMF austerity plan: 15 percent ⁴

Average drop in temperature in Kuwaiti population centers near burning oil fields in May 1991 from same month in previous year: 59 degrees ⁵

Estimated number of Iraqis who visited the Polish Embassy in Baghdad, which represents US diplomatic interests, from May 1423 to inquire about obtaining a US visa: 300 ⁶

Total US trade with Kuwait for the first five months of 1991: $1.5 billion; total in 1989: $53 million ⁷

Percentage of Afghanistan's 15 million people who have been forced to relocate because of Afghani civil war: 58.3 ⁸

Proportion of the world's total refugee population that is Afghani: 1 out of 3 ⁹

Cost for a pilgrim from Gaza to travel to Mecca, Saudi Arabia for the Haj: $1,800 ¹⁰

Number of Palestinians from Israel and the occupied territories who traveled to Mecca for the Haj in 1990: 7,000; estimated number traveling to Mecca in 1991: 3,400 ¹¹

Amount of foreign borrowing by Iran from 1979 to 1989: $0 ¹²

Amount of foreign borrowing planned by Iran under President Rafsanjani's five-year development program: $27 billion ¹³

Estimated number of people in Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan "at risk" of starvation: 21 million ¹⁴

Percentage of Ethiopia's 1990 budget spent on arms: 70 ¹⁵

Israeli government expenditures on Orthodox rabbinical groups in 1980: $55 million; in 1991: $92 million ¹⁶

Percentage of Jordan's GNP lost due to Gulf crisis: 32 ¹⁷

Proportional loss to US economy: $1,674.6 billion ¹⁸

Number of acres per day taken over by Israeli settlers in the occupied territories since March 1991: 300 ¹⁹

Estimated number of undetonated mines, as of June 1, in Kuwait: 500,000 ²⁰

Estimated number of Bangladeshis living in flood plains of the Ganges Delta who were evacuated prior to the typhoon: 3 million ²¹

Estimated number of people suffering from diarrhea in Bangladesh: 8 million ²²

Percentage of Soviet Jews in Israel who support any existing Israeli political party: 35 ²³

Amount of international relief funds spent on Iraqi refugees in Iran for every $1 spent on Iraqi refugees along the Turkish border: $0.12 ²⁴

Percentage of the $270 billion in worldwide arms sales made to the Middle East in mid and late 1980s: 40 ²⁵

Number of selfimmolations in India's Tamil Nadu state following the assassination there of former Indian Prime Minster Rajiv Gandhi: 11 ²⁶

Number of loaves of flat bread produced each day by 32 Saudi bakeries to feed pilgrims on Haj: 5 million ²⁷

Percentage of total US armed forces that fought against Iraq: 17 ²⁸

Estimated number of Iraqi children dying per day due to postwar illnesses, according to Harvard University Medical Factfinding Team: 500 ²⁹

Percentage fall in price of crude oil during the first quarter of 1991: 36 ³⁰

Percentage increase in profits for refining and marketing operations of major US petroleum companies in the first quarter of 1991: 254 ³¹

Estimated number of 60,000 Gazans with jobs in Israel who have been laid off since October 1990: 50,000; percentage fall in monthly income since October 1990: 86 ³²

¹The World Bank, Hobart Rowen; ²Ibid.; ³Reuters; ⁴The Christian Science Monitor; ⁵ Robert R.P. Chase, American Geophysical Union; ⁶Polish Ambassador to Iraq Krzysetof Plominski; ⁷Tom McBride, US assistant secretary for trade development, The Washington Post; ⁸The Middle East; ⁹Ibid.; ¹⁰The Islamic Council of East Jerusalem, Saudi Gazette; ¹¹Ibid.; ¹²Iranian Mission to the United Nations; ¹³Tehran Radio; ¹⁴Bread for the World; ¹⁵The Economist; ¹⁶Gary Rosenblatt, Detroit Jewish News; ¹⁷Saudi Gazette; ¹⁸The CIA World Fact book 1990; ¹⁹The Washington Times; ²⁰ States International Company, Columbia, SC; ²¹Dr. Mozammel Haque, Saudi Gazette; ²²CARE; ²³Tatzpit Research Institute, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency; ²⁴US Committee for Refugees; ²⁵US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, Sen. Mark Hatfield (ROR); ²⁶Reuters; ²⁷Saudi Press Agency; ²⁸National Press Club, George McGovern; ²⁹Rob Moodie, Harvard Medical Factfinding Team in Iraq; ³⁰Energy Information Administration, US Department of Energy; ³¹Ibid.; ³²Dean Reynolds, ABC News.