THE PAGE THAT COUNTS

Miles Schneiderman

Share of U.S. adults who “lack proficiency in literacy,” reading below the sixth-grade level: 52% [1] Share of adults with the lowest literacy levels who live in poverty: 43% [2] Share of 12th-grade students who achieved “proficient” or higher in reading performance on the National Assessment of Education Progress in 2015: 37% [3] Student score difference between low-poverty schools and high-poverty schools: 32 points

Official 2020 U.S. poverty rate: 11.4% [4] Poverty rate according to the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), which incorporates government assistance: 9.1% Times the SPM rate has been lower than the official measure prior to 2020: 0 2020 SPM poverty rate without government stimulus checks during the COVID-19 pandemic: 12.7%

Championships currently considered to be the most prestigious titles in World Wrestling Entertainment: 9 [5] Wrestlers who have won these titles in 2021: 34 [6] Number of these wrestlers who are BIPOC: 22 Black wrestlers who held the WWE World Championship from 1963 to 2019: 1 [7] Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson,1998 Black wrestlers who have held the WWE World Championship from 2019 to 2021: 3 [8]

Total construction time of the Panama Canal: 10 years [9] Total construction time of the Taj Mahal: 17 years [10] Time it’s taken George R. R. Martin to publish the “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series (the source material for Game of Thrones): 25 years (and counting) [11]

Estimated number of eukaryotic species (species with complex cells) on Earth: 8.7 million Eukaryotic species that have been catalogued by humans: 1.2 million [12] Decrease in wildlife population sizes from 1970 to 2016: 68% [13] Share of the world’s remaining biodiversity safeguarded by Indigenous peoples: 80% [14] Share of the global land mass customarily managed by Indigenous peoples: More than 50% Share of the global land mass legally owned by Indigenous peoples: 10%

According to surveys of 1,388 heterosexual women, change in the number of women likely to casually date a man based on whether or not he’s pictured holding a cat: –2.8% Change in the number of women willing to consider a long-term relationship with a man based on whether or not he’s pictured holding a cat: –2.6% [15] Share of American women who own a cat: 33% Share of American men who own a cat: 37% [16]

Sources: [1] National Center for Education Statistics. [2] National Institute for Literacy, via Literacy For All Fund. [3] National Center for Education Statistics. [4] U.S. Census Bureau. [5] World Wrestling Entertainment. [6] Cagematch. [7] Bleacher Report. [8] Bleacher Report. [9] History Channel. [10] UNESCO. [11] National Review. [12] University of Michigan, Center for Sustainable Systems. [13] World Wildlife Fund. [14] The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs. [15] Animals journal. [16] Mintel Group.