Sizing Us Up

New York Times reporter Sam Harris dug through the Census Bureau’s 2007 Statistical Abstract and came up with a bunch of fun facts:

We consumed more than twice as much high fructose corn syrup per person as in 1980 and remained the fattest inhabitants of the planet, although Mexicans, Australians, Greeks, New Zealanders and Britons are not too far behind. …

Americans are getting fatter, but now drink more bottled water per person than beer.

Fans of girl-on-girl action will appreciate this:

For the first time, the abstract quantifies same-sex sexual contacts (6 percent of men and 11.2 percent of women say they have had them).

Some good news for families:

More Americans were born in 2004 than in any years except 1960 and 1990. Meanwhile, the national divorce rate, 3.7 divorces per 1,000 people, was the lowest since 1970. Among the states, Nevada still claims the highest divorce rate, which slipped to 6.4 per 1,000 in 2004 from 11.4 per 1,000 in 1990, just ahead of Arkansas’s rate.

And here’s how we’re dealing with the health-care crisis:

With medical costs rising, more people said they pray for their health than invest in every form of alternative medicine or therapy combined, the abstract reports.

Speaking of prayer, a Harris Poll released on Halloween shows that 58 percent of Americans are “absolutely certain” there is a God, while 11 percent think the odds are against it and 16 percent aren’t sure.

And check this out:

Not everyone who describes themselves as Christian or Jewish believes in God. Indeed, only 76 percent of Protestants, 64 percent of Catholics, and 30 percent of Jews say they are “absolutely certain” there is a God. However, most Christians who describe themselves as “Born Again” (93 percent) are absolutely certain there is a God.

Isn’t the news here that 7 percent of born-again Christians aren’t willing to commit to an absolute belief in God? I’d think that belief in a creator and an afterlife is something you’d maintain with 100 percent conviction if you were to take the plunge. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Tags: Tags: society