Statistics know everything

For example, that today we are all passengers. The simple arguments of the old hit are supported by statistics from the Department of Road Transport of the Ministry of Transport of Russia, according to which public passenger transport enterprises annually transport up to 25 billion passengers. Moreover, the share of small transport companies and private cab drivers (and there are over 6 thousand of them in Russia) accounts for up to 4% of transported passengers, and their number is constantly growing. This is understandable: although public transport has about 123 thousand buses at its disposal, according to experts, Russian cities are only 60% provided with them. DAT experts of the Ministry of Transport consider the current level of transport services for the population in cities and especially in the suburban area to be critical.
About why the country’s largest transport route is underutilized, see the “Special Report” section, page 16.

Or, for example, that dirty water is much more dangerous than a car. In any case, according to statistics from the World Health Organization, people over 35 are more likely to die from diseases caused by contaminated water than from car accidents. Every seventh inhabitant of the Old World does not have access to clean drinking water, as a result, the number of cases of cholera and typhus is constantly growing. Doctors are confident that if emergency measures are not taken, this phenomenon could reach epidemic proportions, which could kill up to 30 million people.
For information on how to enjoy even water that is not entirely pure, see the “Consumer Basket” section, page 48.

Or, for example, that the Argentine Catholic Church is suing the central bank of the republic. The Archdiocese of Buenos Aires has turned to secular justice to clear its name in a bank fraud case. According to the Catholic Church, the central bank damaged the archbishopric by trying to involve it in the investigation of the Banco de Credito Provincial (BCP) in connection with the suspicion of a million-dollar fraud - the BCP discovered documents signed by the former archbishop of Buenos Aires, on the basis of which and accusations of fraud were made. The Church believes that these documents are false and, accordingly, the Central Bank itself is guilty of failing to control the BKP. The investigation even took such an unprecedented step as a search of the archbishopric. However, the missing $10 million has still not been found.
About where depositors of our banks should look for their money, see the “Current Account” section, page 37.

Or, for example, that Japan is moving towards the “gender equality” proclaimed in the constitution more slowly than other developed countries. According to the UN, in terms of women's participation in government, Japan has moved from 27th to 38th place in the world over the past three years (the Scandinavian countries are in the lead: Sweden is in first place, Norway is in second). This is primarily due to the fact that in Japan there are still very few women in leadership positions. Among the members of the Japanese parliament, only 7.7% are women, in the current government there is only one representative of the fair sex, and among the top managers of Japanese companies there are only 8.9%.
About how things are with top managers of Russian companies, see the “Labor Exchange” section, page 30.

Magazine "Kommersant Money" No. 26 dated 07.07.1999, p. 62