You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the telling numbers tucked inside the news.
5-2
THEY DID IT! The U.S. women’s national team has won the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, trouncing Japan in one of those games that you can throw in the faces of people who think there’s no scoring in soccer. Going into the tournament final, FiveThirtyEight’s forecasting model had the team’s chances of winning at 67 percent. [FiveThirtyEight]
18 weeks
The U.S. Navy is extending to 18 weeks the amount of paid maternity leave available to female sailors and Marines. The Navy says about 5,000 women will be eligible each year. [Associated Press]
54 percent
Health insurers are trying to crank up rates in states across the country. In Minnesota, Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans are pursuing an average 54 percent hike, but that’s on the high end of the spectrum nationally. The proposed increases range from 20 percent to 40 percent or higher, according the The New York Times. State insurance regulators will have some ability to prevent such large increases from going into effect. [The New York Times]
61 percent
Oxi! In a referendum, Greeks soundly rejected a bailout deal from the country’s creditors that would have led to greater austerity measures. According to preliminary figures from the government, 61 percent voted “no” on the ballot measure. [Business Insider]
More than 30,000
That’s the number of federal inmates who have responded to the Obama administration’s call for clemency applications. Over the next couple of weeks, President Obama may bring the total number of commutations he has granted during his presidency to more than 80 as he acts to reduce the sentences of some nonviolent drug offenders. [The New York Times]
$75,000
A master of disguise pulled off a $75,000 heist from a Wal-Mart in Oklahoma. He dressed up as an armored truck driver, pretended to be at the store to pick up a gigantic pile of money, and then sped off in his Chevrolet Malibu. [News On 6]
1.6 million
Tanning beds — you know, that product that allows you to exchange your future skin health for not looking like a pasty cave-dwelling Excel power user at the beach — are on the decline. In 2013, about 1.6 million fewer women and 400,000 fewer men used tanning beds, compared with 2010. [New York Magazine]
$30.9 million
Four weeks on, and “Jurassic World” is somehow still leading the weekly box office. That “Terminator” sequel failed to bring audiences back, and “Inside Out” has yet to overcome the timeless story of guys who probably should have been more cautious when making dinosaurs. [Bloomberg]
$3.53 billion
That’s the amount of money that drug and medical device companies disclosed that they paid doctors between August 2013 and December 2014. Let those friends from college who were always on the prowl for Xanax know that there is a now a whole database of doctors in their area who took money to promote all those drugs. [ProPublica]
$2.8 trillion
Markets in China are reeling from a stock market slide, with more than $2.8 trillion in value being wiped out on the Shanghai Composite Index since June 12. The country is taking several steps — like suspending IPOs — to try to stop the drop. [Bloomberg]
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Walt Hickey was FiveThirtyEight’s chief culture writer. @WaltHickey
