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Significant Digits For Friday, March 17, 2017

You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.


2 deaths

A second death has been linked to a bug that makes T-Mobile phone customers flood Dallas’ 911 call center with accidental and phony emergency calls. [The Dallas Morning News]


26 percent

NPR is doing pretty well for itself in the internet age, according to new numbers from Nielsen. The network’s broadcast programs drew 37.5 million weekly listeners in the fall of 2016, up by nearly 4 million from a year earlier. Listeners in the 25 to 44 demographic rose 26 percent. [NPR]


39 percent

In a survey of 250 U.S. colleges and universities, 39 percent of institutions reported a decline in applications from international students, with the largest decline from the Middle East. [AACRAO, New York Times]


150 of the 650 MPs

Approximate number of members of parliament in Great Britain who employ a member of their own family. In an effort to crack down on nepotism, new rules will forbid new members of parliament from employing spouses, relatives or business associates. [Yahoo]


$4,000

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has purchased $4,000 worth of Canada Goose stock following the apparel company’s initial public offering on Thursday. This is enough skin in the game to submit shareholder resolutions and speak at shareholder meetings, rights that PETA will use to call out the company’s use of animal fur in its products. [Business Insider]


$6 million

Amount that Americans spent on sign-making supplies the week of President Trump’s inauguration and the Jan. 21 Women’s March. That’s a more than a 30 percent jump over normal levels. [Bloomberg]


If you see a significant digit in the wild, send it to @WaltHickey.

Walt Hickey was FiveThirtyEight’s chief culture writer.

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