You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
22 U.S. House seats
An Associated Press study of U.S. House races found that Republicans may have gained up to 22 additional seats in the 2016 election due to redistricting. The AP’s analysis also found four times as many states with GOP-skewed state legislative maps as Democratic-skewed ones. [The Associated Press]
37 percent
Kentucky’s government employee pension system is in bad shape. The pensions managed by Kentucky Retirement Systems “had just 37 percent of the money required to pay current and future retirees.” And the state isn’t doing those retirees any favors: It’s way more reliant on “alternative investments” — pricey hedge funds and private equity — than its peers. So far, the result has been higher costs and lower returns. [The Huffington Post]
$435,000
Expected opening weekend take for “The Big Sick.” And Kumail Nanjiani’s romantic-comedy opened in just five locations, giving it the highest per-screen average gross of any film released in 2017 — a good sign for the film. [Variety]
1 million deaths
A White House budget proposal cuts $1.1 billion from a George W. Bush-era program that funds antiretroviral drugs for people with H.I.V. in sub-Saharan Africa. That kind of cut could lead to an estimated 1 million additional deaths in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere, according to researchers. [The New York Times]
1.4 million people
That’s the number of Americans who live in nursing homes, and Medicaid pays for most of their costs. In the U.S., 64 percent of people in nursing homes rely on Medicaid, so the Medicaid cuts in the Republican health care law could have far-reaching consequences for them. [The New York Times]
$1.6 billion
Takata, the company that makes the airbags that have been linked to at least 16 deaths and 180 injuries, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday. Key Safety Systems, a rival air-bag maker not known for firing shrapnel when its airbags inflate, will buy most of Takata’s assets for $1.6 billion. [The Associated Press]
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