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    The Sarmatian Review Data

April 2008

Volume XXVIII, No. 2


Borderless Europe forever?

Percentage of Austrians opposed to 21 December 2007 enlargement of the Schengen area in Europe (i.e., area without border controls): 75 percent.

Countries admitted to the Schengen areas: the postcommunist countries of Central Europe including Poland, the Baltic Republics, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.

Source: TV poll, as reported by BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7154196.stm), 21 December 2007.

The mythology of Vladimir Putin

Putin's approval rating at the end of 2007: 80 percent.

Health spending as percentage of GDP under Putin (between 2000-2005) and before Putin (1996-1999: 6 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively.

Average number of murders per year in the “anarchic” years 1995-1999: 30,200 per year; in the “orderly” Putin years 2000-2004: 32,200 per year.

Alcohol consumption per adult at the end of the 1990s and in 2004: 10.7 liters and 14.5 liters, respectively.

Percentage of Russian men between 25-54 who die of alcoholism: 18 percent.

Estimated percentage of Russians infected with HIV virus: 0.9 percent.

Source: Michael McFaul and Kathryn Stoner-Weiss, “The Myth of the Authoritarian Model,” Foreign Affairs, January-February 2008.

Vladimir Putin's personal wealth

Estimated amount of money President Putin indirectly owns by means of equities and partnerships: 40 billion dollars.

Source: Russian politologist Stanislaw Belkowski in “Ist Putin bereits der viertreichste Mann der Welt?”Welt Online, 20 January 2008.

Putin's personal wealth as stated in official documents: 4,698 euro in salaries per month, 77 sq. meter apartment in Petersburg, two cars, 1,500 sq. meter lot in the suburbs of Moscow, 89,000 euro worth of stock in a Petersburg bank.

Source: “Ist Putin bereits der viertreichste Mann der Welt?” Welt Online, 20 January 2008, <www.welt.de/politik/article1568401/Ist_Putin_bereits_der_viertreichste_Mann_der_Welt.html>.

Drug use in the Russian Federation

Number of Russians who have used drugs: 5.9 million, or 4 percent of the population.

The registered number of drug users in 2007: 231,000.

Source: Interfaks, as reported by <gazeta.ru> on 17 January 2008.

American deficits, capital flow, and Russian observers

Capital flow into the United States in December and November 2007, respectively: 60.4 billion dollars and 150.8 billion dollars.

U.S. trade deficit in December 2007: 58.76 billion dollars.

Source: <gazeta.ru>, 16 February 2008, quoting U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Roman Catholic vs. Anglican Mass attendance in Great Britain

Number of people attending Sunday Masses in Britain, in 2006 in Roman Catholic churches and in Anglican churches: 862,000 and 852,000, respectively.

Source: Telegraph (Internet edition), 12 December 2007.

Sacrament of confession among Polish Catholics

Percentage of Polish Catholics who said that they went to confession several times a year: 51.7 percent.

Percentage of those who do so at least once a month: 47 percent.

Source: Catholic Statistical Institute poll, as reported by Łukasz Cybiński in Rzeczpospolita, 26 February 2008.

Polish exports soaring

Percentage increase of Polish exports in 2007 (by comparison to 2006): 15 percent.

Monetary value of Polish exports in 2007: 101 billion euro, or 152 billion dollars.

Increase in value of the Polish zloty against the U.S. dollar: from Zl.2.80 per dollar in spring 2007 to Zl. 2.30 per dollar in spring 2008.

Source: Polish Statistical Bureau (GUS), as reported by Michał Pawlak in Donosy, no. 4616 (29 February 2008).

Salaries of medical doctors in Poland

Hospitals that pay the highest salaries: clinical hospitals where doctors make up to Zl.12,000, or about $5,000 per month.

The official range of salaries and bonuses for doctors with the highest additional specialization for approximately 200-300 hours of work per month: between Zl.3,580 and Zl.12,506; for doctors with no specialization, between Zl.2,930 and Zl.7, 977.

Conclusions: the lowest salaries are paid in county hospitals; there is a vast difference in basic salaries of doctors working in hospitals; the income of those in private practice has not been evaluated.

Source: Michał Jankowski in Donosy, no. 4590 (24 January 2008).

University endowments and salaries of college professors in the United States

American universities with the largest endowments in 2007: Harvard (35.6 billion dollars), Yale (22.5 billion), Stanford (17.2 billion), Princeton (15.8 billion), University of Texas system (15.6 billion).

Average salary of full professors at Harvard in 2007: $177,000; at public research universities: $106,000.

Source: Justin Pope (AP), “College endowment figures confirm disparity in wealth,” Houston Chronicle, 24 January 2008.

Current account deficits (or surpluses) and inflation in Central and Eastern Europe

Current account deficits as percentage of GDP (2007) estimate): Poland, -4 percent; Hungary, -5.6 percent; Ukraine, -3 percent; Romania, -14 percent; Russia, +6.2 percent.

Inflation in 2007: Poland, 3.9 percent; Hungary, 7.4 percent; Ukraine, 16.6 percent; Romania, 6.6 percent; Russia, 11.9 percent.

Source: EBRD; RZB Group; Thomson Datastream, National sources, as reported in Stefan Wagstyl, “Eastern Europe to feel credit squeeze,” Financial Times, 28 January 2008.

Internet use in Poland, Russia, and the EU

Number of people in Poland and Russia who used the Internet in 2007: 12.5 million and 28 million, respectively.

Another estimate of Internet users in Poland (taking into account users under fifteen years of age: 14.1 million.

Percentage of Poles vs. other EU members who used the Internet in 2007: 44 percent vs. 57 percent.

Breakdown by gender (in Poland): 51 percent of users were men, 49 percent women.

Source: Eurostat and NetTrack statistics, as reported by Rzeczpospolita, 8 February 2008; Michał Jankowski in Donosy, no. 1406 (19 February 2008).

The decline of Tygodnik Powszechny

Number of copies of TP sold in 1990, 1995, 2007, respectively: 70,000-80,000, 30,000, under 20,000.

Minimum number of copies that need to be sold each week to assure financial self-sufficiency: 50,000.

Print runs of contemporary Catholic competitors: Gość Niedzielny, over 200,000; Niedziela, 200,000.

TP's financial loss in 2002 when it separated itself from the Znak publishing house: Zl.300,000 ($130,000).

Source: Agnieszka Rybak, “Nowy format pomnika,” Rzeczpospolita, 8 February 2008.

Translating books: costs, procedures, other secrets

Amount of money translator Eric Dickens (Estonian-English translator) charges per one thousand translated words: “Slightly more than the ‘industry recommended' £80.”

How publishers decide which foreign books to translate: “Very often, it will be the organization set up in the source-language country to promote its national literature” that provides funds for translators. “ The funding works like this: the publisher pays for editing, printing, and marketing, but the promotional organization pays the translator directly. All that's needed is proof of a contract.”

How Eric Dickens has upported himself recently: “I have more or less been living off the money paid by the Estonian Cultural Endowment for the past few years.”

Source: Eric Dickens, “What's a Translator to Do?” London Review of Books, vol. 30 no. 4 (21 February 2008).

Winning Poles

Name of the Kraków hostel voted the best in the world by tourists on Internet site <www.Hostelworls.com> in 2007: Hostel Flamingo.

Categories considered by voters: security, location, atmosphere, service, cleanliness.

Place where the award was handed out: Dublin, Ireland.

Source: Michał Jankowski in Donosy, no. 4593 (29 January 2008).


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