Driest year in recorded history for many areas of California: 2013

Percentage by which California Gov. Jerry Brown asked Californians to voluntarily reduce water use in January 2014: 20 [1]

Actual percentage reduction in water use in California between January and May 2014: 5 [2]

Amount Americans are projected to spend per day eating out in restaurants in 2014: $1.8 billion [3]

Percentage of American adults who don’t know how to cook as of 2011: 28 [4]

Percentage of all adult American consumers at least 18 years old who report still calling their moms for cooking advice: 35 [5]

Number of rubber ducks in the world’s largest collection at the last official count in April 2011: 5,631 [6]

Estimated number of rubber ducks in the collection as of June 2014: 7,000 [7]

Number of nonfatal violent and property hate crimes against persons 12 and older in 2004: 281,670 

Number of nonfatal violent and property hate crimes against persons 12 and older in 2012: 293,800

Percentage of victims who perceived crimes were motivated by ethnicity bias in 2004: 22

Percentage of victims who perceived crimes were motivated by ethnicity bias in 2012: 51 [8]

Percentage of children ages 3–5 below the federal poverty level with untreated tooth decay: 25

Percentage of children ages 3–5 above the federal poverty level with untreated tooth decay: 10.5 [9]

Percentage of coffee growing area affected by leaf rust in Central America, highest since first appearance in 1976: 53 [10]

Estimated number of jobs lost in Central America because of leaf rust between 2012 and 2013: 394,000

Total amount Central America lost because of leaf rust between 2012 and 2013:$500 million [11]

Value of Central American unroasted coffee imported to the United States in 2013: $1 billion [12]

Drop in ocean’s pH level since start of Industrial Revolution: 0.1

Percentage increase of acidity represented by this drop: 30 [13]

Percentage of acidity increase by the end of this century if current carbon emissions continue: 150 [14]

Percentage of Americans without health insurance as of September 2013, the highest since Gallup began tracking the statistic in 2008: 18

Percentage of Americans without health insurance as of June 2014, the lowest since Gallup tracking began: 13.415 [15]

Total number of newly insured Americans since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law: 15 million [16]

Sources:

1. California Department of Water Resources, 2014. 2. California Water Boards, July 2014.3. National Geographic, May 2014. 4. Impulse Research, April 28, 2011. 5. Sullivan Higdon & Sink FoodThink, 2012. 6. Guinness World Records, 2014. 7. Personal communication with collection owner. 8. Bureau of Justice Statistics, February 2014. 9. National Center for Health Statistics, August 2012. 10. International Coffee Organization. 11. International Coffee Organization, May 13, 2013. 12. U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2014. 13. The Royal Society, June 2005. 14. Oceanography, December 2009. 15. Gallup, July 10, 2014. 16. Obama Care Facts, 2014.