Bet You Didn't Know

Percentage of households with access to
public transportation in their neighborhood

American: 54
German: 85

Source: Bureau of the Census, 2005 American Housing Survey and GESIS (German Social Sciences Infrastructure Services)

The Big Three

According to estimates by the United Nations, 175 million people (2.9 percent of the world's population) live outside their country of birth. The three nations with the most immigrants are

United States: 35 million
Russia: 13 million
Germany: 7 million

Source: People Flows in Globalization, Richard B. Freeman, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 12315

The Meaning of Gifted

Who populates the gifted classes, honors programs, and advanced placement courses in the nation's middle and high schools? The nation's elite of course.

Among children aged 12 to 17, those from high-income families and those with the most highly-educated parents are most likely to be in gifted classes, including honors and advanced placement courses. Among children in families with monthly incomes below $1,500 ($18,000 per year), only 15 percent are in gifted classes. The figure is 32 percent among children in families with monthly incomes of $6,000 or more ($72,000 per year).

The education gap is even more pronounced. Only 10 percent of children whose parents did not graduate from high school are in gifted classes. Among those whose parents have graduate-level degrees, the figure is 45 percent.

Source: Census Bureau, A Child's Day: 2003, Survey of Income and Program Participation

Bet You Didn't Know

Percentage of parents who say they never
feel angry at their children: 46.

Source: Census Bureau, A Child's Day: 2003, Survey of Income and Program Participation