The Sarmatian Review Index

September 2000

Vol. XX, No. 3

Demography

Size of the Jewish community in Czechoslovakia in 1930: 356,000, or 2.4 percent of the population of 14.7 million.

Size of the Jewish community in Poland in 1931: 3.1 million, or 9.8 percent of the population of 32 million.

Source: Joseph Rothschild, East Central Europe between the Two World Wars (Seattle, WA: Univ. of Washington Press, 1974).

Size of the Jewish community in Czechoslovakia in 1939: one percent.

Source: Agence France-Presse, 25 January 2000.

The Polish Holocaust

Number of verified Polish victims of Soviet repression in 1939-1945 listed by the Karta Center in Warsaw during the press conference on 17 April 2000: 566,000.

Estimated number of Poles who fell victim to Soviet repression in 1939-45 but whose cases could not be verified for lack of full documentation: 934,000.

Source: Professor Andrzej Paczkowski, as reported by RFE/RL Poland, Ukraine and Belarus Report, vol. 2, no. 16 (25 April 2000).

Polish higher education

Number of students in Polish institutions of higher education in 2000: 1.5 million.

Of these, percentage of students who study in private colleges and universities: 33 percent.

Number of private institutions of higher learning in Poland in 2000: 172.

Source: Professor Józef Szablowski, "Private higher education in Poland," a paper read at the Sixth International Conference on Polish and East Central European Affairs, St. Mary's College, Michigan, 19 May 2000.

Percentage of students who are sons and daughters of farmers among the total student population: two percent.

Source: Professor Zbigniew Stachowski, "College of Socio-Economics in Tyczyn," a paper read at the Sixth International Conference on Polish and East Central European Affairs, St. Mary's College, Michigan, 19 May 2000.

Life and death

Number of Iraqi children who died of dysentery in December 1989 (before the economic sanctions were imposed on Iraq) and in December 1999, respectively: 101 and 1,576.

Number of Iraqi children who died of malnutrition in December 1989 and December 1999, respectively: 81 and 3,060.

Source: Iraqi health ministry, as reported by Catholic World Report, March 2000.

Frequency of infection with TB and syphilis among salespersons in Moscow in 1999: one in 200 infected with TB, one in 100, with syphilis.

Source: Moscow Medical Board, as reported by Nezavisimaia Gazeta, 11 March 2000.

Number of able-bodied Russian men who die 'under the influence of alcohol': 66 percent.

Number of those who die 'completely drunk': half of the above, or 33 percent of able-bodied Russian men.

A sociological study conducted in Moscow and in the Udmurtian Republic, as reported by Kommersant, 19 May 2000.

Suicide rate in Poland in 2000: 14.3 per 100,000 inhabitants (same as the European average).

Suicide rates in other European countries: Lithuania, 45.8 per 100,000; Russia, 41.8; Germany, 15.7; Greece, 3.5; Spain, 7.2 per 100,000.

Source: World Health Organization, as reported by AFP, 21 May 2000.

Economy

Amount of money the international De Beers diamond cartel will write off as unrecoverable investment in Severalmaz, a Russian diamond company: $30 million.

Percentage of ownership of Almazy Rossii-Sakha previously owned by De Beers and now sold because of inhospitable investment conditions in Russia: 27 percent.

Source: UPI (Moscow), 16 May 2000.

Projected Russian external debt in December 2000: $158 billion (unchanged since December 1999). In December 1998, the debt stood at $156.6 billion ($103.5 billion inherited from the Soviet Union and $54.5 billion borrowed in the last ten years).

Anticipated amount of money Russia should pay in 2000 to service its external debt: $10.2 billion ($5.6 billion on the capital owed and $4.6 billion in interest).

Source: First Vice Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, as reported by AFP (Moscow), 29 March 2000.

Stock market close in Russia on 14 June 2000: 191.25 (-2.08 percent).

Source: Russia Today <http://www.russiatoday.com/investorinsight/eyeonmarkets.php3>, 14 June 2000.

Value of the Russian stock market in March 2000: $36 billion (up 48 percent since Vladimir Putin became acting president).

Source: David McHugh of Associated Press, 21 March 2000.

Percentage of foreign trade of the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland that involves countries of the European Union: 64 percent, 69 percent and 67 percent, respectively.

Percentage of foreign trade of these three countries that involves countries of the former USSR: nine percent, five percent, and nine percent, respectively.

Source: Stratfor.com < http://www.stratfor.com/cis/commentary/0005250124.htm >, 10 June 2000.

Foreign investment and purchases in the United States in 1999 and 1998: $282.9 billion and $215.3 billion, respectively.

Breakdown concerning nations and continents purchasing American goods: Great Britain ($110.1 billion, or over half of the $205.2 billion in purchases that came from companies based in Europe); Asia ($11.5 billion, with Japan accounting for $8 billion of that amount).

Source: U.S. Commerce Department on 7 June 2000, as reported by Houston Chronicle, 8 June 2000.

Amount of money collected by the American IRS in 1999: $1.7 trillion.

Source: Economist, 15-21 April 2000.

Estimated amount of grain Russia needs each year: 75 million tons.

Russian grain harvests in 1998 and 1999, respectively: 47.8 million and 54.7 million tons, respectively.

Source: AFP (Moscow), 13 June 2000.

Decrease in Polish exports in the first two months of 2000: 13.4 percent compared to a year ago, to $3.99 billion.

The balance of payments deficit in the first two months of 2000: $949 million.

Unemployment in Poland in March 2000: 13.9 percent.

Inflation in Poland in February 2000: 10.4 percent at an annualised rate, compared with 8.6 percent in 1998 and 9.8 percent in December 1999.

Source: Pierre-Antoine Donnet, "Poland is in the red, economists say," AFP, 12 April 2000.

Beliefs

Percentage of Americans who believe in miracles: 84 percent.

Percentage of Americans who believe in the reality of miracles in the Bible: 79 percent.

Percentage of Americans who say they have experienced or witnessed a miracle: 48 percent.

Source: Newsweek magazine poll, Newsweek, 1 May 2000.

Percentage of Poles who go to church at least once a week: 51 percent.

Percentage of Poles who go to church only on special occasions: 22 percent.

Percentage of Poles who go to church at least twice a week: seven percent.

Source: PBS Institute poll published by Rzeczpospolita, 17 April 2000.

Lifestyles

Decrease in the consumption of alcohol in Poland in the last ten years: 40 percent.

Decrease in the consumption of vodka (as opposed to other alcoholic beverages): from 75 percent to 55-60 percent.

Estimated percentage of alcoholics among Poles: two percent.

Region of Poland where the consumption of alcohol is the lowest and presumed reasons for it: Malopolska, owing to the strong religiosity of the region.

Region of Poland where the consumption of alcohol is the highest and presumed reasons: territories where former sovkhozes (PGR-y) were located (Slupsk, Koszalin voivodships); territories bordering on Belarus and Lithuania where unemployment is high.

Source: Rzeczpospolita, 6 May 2000.

Percentage of adult Russian men and women who smoke: 65 percent and 30 percent.

Percentage of boys and girls aged 14-15 in Russia's urban areas who smoke: 20 percent and 11 percent.

Source: AFP, 24 May 2000.

Central Europe in NATO

Reduction in the number of top generals in the Polish army undertaken to conform to NATO standards: from 47 to 28.

Corresponding reductions in numbers of colonels: from 329 to 124; lieutenants-colonels: from 333 to 215.

Reduction in the number of departments in the Polish armed forces: from 15 to seven.

Reduction in the number of departments in the defense ministry: from 32 to 26.

Source: Polish Defense Minister Janusz Onyszkiewicz, as reported by AFP (Warsaw), 11 April 2000.

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