Commerce: A World of Trouble

DiggThis

Because misery loves an index

By Thomas Mucha
Published: February 13, 2009 12:44 ET

Here's the global economic crisis, by the numbers:

  • 65,000 – Chinese factory closings in 2008 (estimated)
  • 20 million – Number of migrant workers in China now without work
  • 1.6 million – Japanese living on welfare, the highest number since 1965
  • 4.4 billion – Total sales of McDonald’s Japan in 2008, the company’s best year as Japanese turned to cheaper fast food
  • 13 – The actual length, in years, of Japan’s “Lost Decade”
  • 3 – In a process called “cutting chai,” the number of parts into which cash-strapped Indians are dividing, and then sharing, a single order of tea
  • 31 – Percentage of households in Brazil that have suffered a job loss in the last six months
  • 500,000 – Number of homes for low-income residents the Brazilian government is building to stimulate the economy
  • 129,000 – Number of jobs lost in Canada in January, the worst one-month total in decades
  • 250 million – Size, in dollars, of Prince Edward Island's lobster industry, now crashing
  • 586 billion – Size, in dollars, of Beijing's economic stimulus package — or about $450 for every man, woman and child in China
  • 66 – Billionaires in China in 2007
  • 24 – Billionaires in China at the end of 2008
  • 25 – Percentage increase in 2008 of Ghana gold exports, the country’s leading industry as investors looked to safe havens
  • 10,000 – Number of South African miners expected to lose their jobs at Anglo Platinum. Exports are crashing due to the collapse of the global auto industry (fewer cars means fewer catalytic converters, which use the metal)
  • 2000 – The last time sales of Soju — a Korean alcohol that costs $1 a bottle but packs an alcohol content of up to 45 percent — were this high

For a country-by-country analysis of a world of trouble, look here:

 

(Editor's note: The economic data in the above presentation comes from official government sources, including the International Monetary Fund and the CIA World Factbook, as well as local media sources.)

 

 

 

 

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