Monday, Nov. 08, 2004

Numbers

1 in. Increase in the average height of Americans from 1960 to 2002, to 5 ft. 9 in. for men and 5 ft. 4 in. for women

25 lbs. Increase in the average weight of Americans over the same time period, to 191 lbs. for men and 164 lbs. for women

$30 billion Revenue so far this year from Afghanistan's opium production, which feeds 95% of Europe's heroin addiction

$7 Daily wage for opium laborers in Afghanistan, twice the average daily pay for unskilled labor in that country

328 Number of exonerations of falsely convicted U.S. prisoners since 1989; about half of those since 1999 have been based on DNA evidence

11 Average number of years a falsely convicted prisoner spends behind bars before being exonerated, according to a University of Michigan study

Sources: Centers for Disease Control (2); USA Today (4)