You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
Significant Digits is off between Christmas and New Years, so we’ll see you on the other side. Keep an eye out for the data awards we’ll be doling out next week — we may send them your way to keep you company while SigDig is off. It’s been a delight having y’all as readers during this uneventful and boring year.
16 cars
Uber, which decided to experiment with a faulty batch of 16 driverless cars on California roads where real-life people are, has moved the cars’ trial to Phoenix, Arizona. [The Guardian]
39.5 percent
Percentage of Americans aged 18 to 34 who live with their parents or another family member. The figure has been steadily rising since the fifties. [The Wall Street Journal]
41 cents
A Chicago man is suing several McDonald’s restaurants because the “Extra Value Meal” is 41 cents more expensive than if each item was separately purchased. The man says the lawsuit is “about principle.” Listen, everyone has to pick a hill to die on eventually. James Gertie has found his, and there’s nobility to that. [USA Today]
2,350 acres
Number of acres of farmland Kentucky devoted in 2016 to the cultivation of hemp, Marijuana’s close relative that has a myriad of industrial uses. That number is up from 922 in 2015. That’s almost a quarter of national production. [Bloomberg]
$1.5 million
A Canadian businessman saved more than 50 Syrian refugee families — more than 200 people — by putting up $1.5 million in funds and offering jobs to refugees who come to Canada. [Toronto Life]
€20 billion
The world’s oldest bank is the Italian Monte dei Paschi di Siena, but age does not breed stability: The Italian government has agreed to a €20 billion bailout of the bank, considered one of the weakest in Western Europe. [The Independent]
See you in the New Year.
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