Navigable waterways play an important role in the development of regions or countries, as they are used first for exploration and later for trade. Vessels using waterways vary from animal-drawn barges to tankers and ocean liners.

Though slower than rail, road, and air transport, water shipping is cheaper and good for bulk cargoes of commodities like coal, ore, grain, and lumber.

Waterways can even offer shortcuts, as is the case with the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal. Because of the curvature of the earth, the shipping route through Canada’s Hudson’s Bay shortens the distance from Winnipeg to Liverpool, England (via Churchill) by 500 nautical miles in comparison with the route via Montreal.

They are also vulnerable to exploitation by corrupt officials, who can demand bribes or protection payments in exchange for not reporting an unregistered business or employee to the authorities.

Another disadvantage for people running businesses in the informal economy is that their equity in their business is unrecognized and cannot be used to apply for credit or loans that could help them expand.

Estimates of the number of American adults who are overweight range up to two-thirds and as many as one-third may be obese (defined as having more than 30 per cent of body weight as fat). According to the mortality statistics, obesity killed 2,989 Americans in the year 2000, more than the number in the next eight highest countries combined.

In 2004, the national Tax Freedom Day in the United States was calculated to be April 11, the earliest date for 37 years. For 2005, the United Kingdom’s Tax Freedom Day is May 31, 2005, three days later than 2004. In Canada, Tax Freedom Day 2003 was June 28, while Denmark’s Tax Freedom Day in 2001 was August 14.

Critics say the way Tax Freedom Day is calculated (dividing taxes raised by GDP) exaggerates the amount of tax paid by the middle class. Another distortion is that capital gains tax is counted in the taxation amount but capital gains income is not included as part of the GDP. Budget deficits are also not taken into account.

Assuming that the weights given in this list are also in pounds, we can calculate that Denmark, with a population of 5,384,384 and a per capita pork consumption rate of 142.6 pounds, required about 3,976,000 pigs to fulfill their pork cravings for the year.

China, despite having a consumption rate only a little more than half that of Denmark (75 pounds per capita), would have consumed 499,835,120 hogs, thanks to its population of 1,286,975,468.

Not surprisingly, China is first in the world in hog production by a wide margin, producing more than twice as many hogs as the next nine biggest producers combined.

France, with 16 overseas departments, possessions and territorial collectivities, has the greatest number of dependent units. It is followed by Britain, which claims 15 crown dependencies and overseas territories. The United States is third with 14 incorporated and unincorporated territories and politically associated commonwealths.

Two of the territories claimed by the U.K. – the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands – are also claimed by Argentina. The dispute between the two countries over the ownership of these islands led to the Falklands War in 1982.

The United States and New Zealand are tied for the highest birth rate among the top 10 abortion per capita countries with a rate of 14.14 per 1,000. The abortion rates in those two countries are 29 and 20 percent of the birth rates, respectively.

New Zealand’s rate of abortions to births is the lowest among the 10 countries with the most abortions per capita.

China has the longest land borders, sharing 22,147.34 kilometers of borders with 16 countries. Russia is second, at 19,900 kilometers shared with 14 countries. The United States is fifth, with 12,034 kilometers of borders with Canada and Mexico. Canada, ninth, has 8,893 kilometers of land borders, all shared with the United States.

Canada is tops in coastline length, with 202,080 kilometers, more than Russia (37,653 km), the United States (19,924 km) and China (14,500) combined.

Of the 25 countries with the highest average number of weeks of primary school instruction, there are eight – New Zealand, Greece, Brazil, Switzerland, Finland, Iceland, Denmark and Germany – that are also in the top 25 for students progressing to secondary level, all of which have progression rates in excess of 99 percent. Of these, Finland, New Zealand, Denmark, Switzerland and Germany are in the top 18 for the percentage of adults educated until the tertiary level.

The top four countries for percentage of adults with tertiary education – Canada, United States, Ireland and Japan – are not in the top 25 for hours of primary instruction. Japan is the only of the four in the top 25 for progression to secondary level.

The so-called 'other mammals' killed 427 people in 48 countries, more than rats (5 deaths), reptiles (101 deaths), crocodiles and alligators (7 deaths), dogs (115 deaths), and non-venomous insects and arthropods (51 deaths) combined.

If you’re American, you’d really better watch it. The United States was first or tied for first in deaths caused by animal bites or strikes for each type of animal except crocodiles and alligators. Of the 706 people killed by animal bites and strikes, close to 19 percent (132 people) of the victims were American.

According to Nationmaster’s mortality statistics, in the latest years for which statistics are available, 12 people were killed by volcanic eruptions. Unspecified natural forces killed another 83, while 100 died from floods and cataclysmic storms killed 201.

Excessive natural cold caused 4,827 deaths, far outdistancing excessive natural heat, which killed 644. Earthquakes killed 843 people, avalanches and landslides killed 1,090, and lightning killed another 1,171.

In total, all these causes were responsible for 8971 deaths, only about one-third as many as plain old falls, which killed 29,771 people in 50 countries.

One of the least common causes of death was the painful-sounding torsion of testis, which killed six people.

Peter Habeler of Austria and Reinhold Messner of Italy were the first to reach the summit without artificial oxygen on May 8, 1978. Ten years later, on October 14, 1988, Lydia Bradey of New Zealand became the first woman to complete an ascent without bottled oxygen. Since then, two other women – Alison Hargreaves (U.K., 1995) and Francys Arsentiev (U.S.A., 1998) – have repeated her feat.

Of the 107 climbers who made it to the top without oxygen, eight died on the way back down. Only 33 of the 1552 who reached the summit with the aid of oxygen died on the descent. That means a climber’s chances of dying are 3.6 times greater if he or she climbs without oxygen.

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, fraud costs U.S. organizations more than US$400 billion each year.

The median loss caused by men, who commit 75 percent of the offenses, is US$185,000; the median loss caused by women is US$48,000. Losses caused by managers are four times bigger than those caused by employees. The median losses caused by executives are 16 times the size of those caused by employees.

An American corporate fraud task force, which pools resources from the Justice Department, the FBI, the SEC and other agencies, has secured more than 500 convictions on about 900 cases filed since its formation three years ago.

Only 89 of the fines were paid. The leaders in outstanding fines were Russia (230), Vietnam (199), China (180) and the Philippines (114). Paraguay, the People's Republic of Congo, Norway, Venezuela, Panama and Afghanistan all had no outstanding fines.

The Foreign Ministry made an appeal to the missions for voluntary payment of the fines, but it was ignored. Under the terms of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, "the means of transport of the [diplomatic] mission shall be immune from search, requisition, attachment or execution."