You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
0 0-0 matches
The 2018 World Cup has been full of goals — and as of Thursday morning had completely avoided the bête noire of some of us more restless soccer fans: the 0-0 draw. Indeed, these international footballers have been so anxious for goals that there have been five “own goals,” whereby a team scores on itself. The record number of own goals in a World Cup is 6, and we still have a long way to go. [FiveThirtyEight, USA Today]
2 countries
Canada has become the second country to fully legalize marijuana, after Uruguay. My colleague Nate Silver lamented the news, worrying about the Canadians who’ll now smuggle Cheetos over the border to avoid tariffs. [ABC News]
26 states
In more than half the states in the U.S., white people are dying faster than they are being born. Two years ago, that number was only 17 states. Demographers said this shift could mean that the moment when white people drop below 50 percent of the U.S. population will happen earlier than 2045, when the U.S. Census Bureau had previously projected it to take place. [The New York Times]
34,361 migrant deaths
The Guardian published a list of the names, genders, ages, regions of origin and causes of death of 34,361 refugees who have died traveling to Europe since 1993. The vast majority drowned. Others died in towns or detention blocks. Some were murdered or killed themselves. The data was verified and assembled from disparate reports by a nongovernmental organization, and the true death toll of those trying to reach Europe is likely much higher. [The Guardian]
10 million patents
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued U.S. patent No. 10 million. It was issued for “Coherent Ladar Using Intra-Pixel Quadrature Detection,” which is definitely a real thing. Heads up, USPTO, I may have No. 10,000,001: When I was about 9 years old, I had an idea for an edible “taco staple” that would keep your soft-shell tacos from messily flopping open. Nobody steal this. [USPTO , h/t @pgrady]
$1.5 billion in taxpayer money
Over the past four years, more than $1.5 billion in U.S. taxpayer money has gone to private companies that operate immigrant youth shelters. These shelters have been accused of “serious lapses in care, including neglect and sexual and physical abuse,” according to a recent investigation. Now, these private facilities are beginning to house the more than 2,000 children separated from their parents as a result of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy. [Reveal]
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