You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
6 minutes 56 seconds
In the interest of diversifying the type of content you read in Significant Digits, here are some numbers about Sunday’s WWE Royal Rumble. Chris Jericho is a mere 110 seconds away from joining Triple H as the only other member of the four-hour club, hallowed ground for wrestlers who over the course of their career have spent more than four hours in Royal Rumble matches prior to elimination. Unless Triple H participates, Jericho must last only 6 minutes, 56 seconds — well under his historical average 26 minutes, 28 seconds active in his first nine Royal Rumbles — to obtain the first-place overall record. [The Wrestling Blog, via @StarOfSavage]
49 percent
Percentage of the U.S. public who believes there are no circumstances where the use of torture is acceptable. Donald Trump has recently said he thinks waterboarding works, but will defer to his Secretary of Defense about whether to use it. [Pew Research Center]
60 percent
Percentage of primate species that are threatened with extinction across the globe. Three quarters of the species have declining populations. We’re pretty much the exception here, folks. [EarthSky]
80 infections
There’s a mumps outbreak in Spokane, Washington that has led officials to tell 300 students without current vaccinations to stay home. Health officials said that the outbreak would be worse without the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination; the vaccine is about 88 percent effective overall. [ABC News]
$2 billion
Amount of money U.S. residents send to family in Mexico monthly, a figure that collectively accounts for some 3 percent of their economy. Regardless of the specifics, President Trump’s policies regarding our southern neighbor could cause substantial changes to their economy. [FiveThirtyEight]
$1.7 trillion
Estimated total contribution to the U.S. economy from LGBT-owned businesses, according to a report from the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. That’s based on an extrapolation from a group of more than 900 certified businesses contributing $1.15 billion as a whole. [Associations Now]
You really need to sign up for the Significant Digits newsletter.
If you see a significant digit in the wild, send it to @WaltHickey.