The Sarmatian Review Index

Area of Poland submerged in July 1997 floods: 3,720 square miles including 40,000 farms and 1,358 towns and villages. Other figures: 162,000 people were forced to flee, 300,000 acres of crops have been destroyed,1.3 million acres of land have been under water. Number of fatalities: 54.

Source: Deputy Agriculture Minister Jerzy Pilarczyk, as reported by Reuter, 18 July 1997; Polska Online-Wiadomo ci dnia, 18 July 1997; Reuter, 20 and 30 July 1997.

Size of the Russian armed forces in 1997, according to Russian Defense Minister Igor Rodionov: 1.7 million.
Armed forces reporting to ministries other than Defense, according to Rodionov: 0.7 million.

Source: Reuter, 7 February 1997.

Number of car accidents on Russian roads in 1996: 160,523. Number of deaths resulting from these accidents: 29,468.

Source: Reuter (Moscow), 13 February 1997.

Number of Russian-made Russian government cars (out of the total number of 700 purchased in 1996) which broke down within the first week: 200.
Of the remaining cars, the number which broke down within the next several weeks: 300.

Source: Reuter, 7 April 1997.

Number of prisoners in Russian jails (per 100,000 population) in 1996: 694, or the highest in Europe.
Number of prisoners in Ukrainian jails (per 100,000 population) in 1996: 392, or the second highest in Europe.
Number of prisoners in Slovenian jails (per 100,000 population) 24.1, or the lowest in Europe.

Source: Reuter (Strassburg), 13 February 1997.

Percentage of crimes committed by teenagers in the Moscow district in 1996: 68%.
Number of children under 14 (the age of legal responsibility in Russia) who committed crimes in 1996: 120,000.
Number of school age children in Russia in 1996 who do not attend school and do not officially work: 1.5 million.

Source: Trud, 6 March 1997, as reported by Peter Rutland in OMRI, 10 March 1997.

Russia's fiscal deficit in 1996: 9.6% of the GDP.
Percentage of taxes collected in the first quarter of 1997: 58%.

Source: Nailene Chou Wiest of Reuter (New York), 10 April 1997.

Percentage drop in Russian oil production in 1996 (by comparison to 1995): 2%.

Source: Reuter, 10 April 1997.

Number of Russians who went abroad in 1996: 13 million.
Of these, the number of those who vacationed in Turkey: 1.3 million.

Source: Peter Ford in the Christian Science Monitor, 13 April 1997.

Percentage of Muscovites who consider themselves Russian Orthodox: 67%.
Percentage of Muscovites who attend religious services: 4%.

Source: All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Opinion, as reported by Reuter (Moscow), 27 April 1997.

Name and location of the most polluted city in Russia: Dzerzhinsk, a chemical production center 200 miles from Moscow and 20 miles from Nizhnii Novgorod.
Number of times the ground water concentration of toxic agents in Dzerzhinsk surpasses the norm: 50 million times [sic].
Average life span in Dzerzhinsk: 50 years.

Source: Aleksei Kiselyov, co-author of Greenpeace's report "Poisoned Cities," as reported by Reuter (Moscow), 14 April 1997.

Percentage of the Soviet military taken over by Russia in 1991: 85%.
Russia's contribution to the Soviet economy in 1991: 60%.

Source: Russian Defense Council Chief Yury Baturin, as reported by the UPI (Moscow), 7 February 1997.

Number of foreign visitors to the Czech Republic in 1996: 109.4 million.
Percentage increase from 1995: 12 percent.

Source: The Czech Statistical Bureau (CSU), as reported by Reuter (Prague), 4 February 1997.

Populations of Great Britain, Italy, Poland and Romania in 1959 and 1995: Great Britain 52 million and 58.48 million, Italy 49.1 million and 58.26 million, Poland 29.48 million and 38.79 million, Romania 18.3 million and 22 million.

Source: Encyklopedia Popularna PWN (Warsaw 1962), CIA World Factbook 1995.

Estimated percentage of United States residents who are foreign born (including illegal aliens): 9%

Source: National Public Radio news, 8 April 1997.

Number of passengers carried by the Polish National Airline LOT in 1996: 2 million.
Percentage increase over 1995: 10.5%

Source: Wiadomosci dnia, Polska Online, 13 February 1997.

Inflation in Polandin January 1997: 2.9%

Source: Lena Bialkowska in Donosy, 18 February 1997

Estimate of overdue payables in Russia in mid-1996 (including arrears to supplies and banks, tax and wage arrears): $90 billion, or 21% of Russian GDP.

Source: Daniel Rosenblum's lecture at the Kennan Institute on 13 January 1997, as reported by Jodi Koehn in Report: Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, Vol. XXV, No. 10 (1997), 1.

Number of organized criminal groups operating in Russia in 1997: 9,000.
Number of people they employ: 100,000.

Source: Russian Interior Ministry, as reported by Reuter, 13 June 1997.

Russian share of the world market in illegal recordings of music (compact disks and tapes): 70%.

Source: RFE/RL, 10 June 1997.

Average size of Polish farms in 1996: 7.91 hectars.
Percentage of farms with a telephone: 22%.
Percentage of farms using gas as a source of energy: 17%.
Percentage of farms dependent on their own water supply: 53%

Source: GUS [Polish Statistical Office], as reported by Michal Jankowski in Donosy, 23 April 1997.

Percentage of the world's population of storks nesting in Poland annually: 25%.
Estimated number of pairs of storks nesting in Poland annually: 15,000.

Source: Reuter (Warsaw), 29 April 1997.

Number of Poles who take up jobs abroad each year: 700,000.
Of these, estimated number of Poles who work illegally in other countries: 480,000.
Number of foreigners who take up jobs in Poland each year: 150,000.
Of these, estimated number of those who work illegally: 138,000.

Source: Michal Jankowski in Donosy, 30 April 1997.

Number of people who attended Masses and other meetings with Pope John Paul II during his May 31-June 10, 1997, visit to Poland: six million.

Source: RFE/RL, 10 June 1997.

Percentage of Poles who decided to go to confession following the Pope's visit to Poland in May-June 1997: 47%.

Source: A statistical survey published by the Znak Publishing House, as reported by Lena Bialkowska in Donosy, 23 June 1997.

Anticipated Polish foreign trade deficit in 1997: $13 billion.
Poland's foreign trade deficit in 1996: $8.2 billion.

Source: Polish finance minister Marek Belka, as reported by Reuter (Warsaw), 16 June 1997.

Current account deficit in the Czech Republic in 1996: 8.6% of GDP.
Projected current account deficit in the Czech Republic in 1997: 6.7% to 7.3% of GDP.

Source: The Czech Statistical Bureau on 23 June, as reported by Reuter (Dubrovnik, Croatia) on 25 June 1997.

Size of the Ukrainian budget for 1997 [sic] accepted by the Ukrainian Parliament on 27 June 1997: revenues $12.1 billion, expenditures $13.5 billion, with inflation predictions ranging between 17% and 25%, and deficit predictions ranging from 4.00% (IMF) to 5.7% (Ukrainian government).
Estimated percentage of Ukrainian economy which is undeclared and on which no taxes are paid: 60%.
Percentage of Ukrainian population earning $30 to $50 per month: 30%.
Percentage of Ukrainian population earning over $150 per month: 0.5%.

Source: Reuter, 26 and 27 June 1997.

Global GDP in 1996: $30 trillion.
Combined GDP of 26 former communist countries (total pop. 400 million) in 1996: $1 trillion.

Source: Reuter, 27 June 1997.

Russia's place on the UN index measuring standard of living and educational standards in 175 countries: 67.

Source: Elaine Monaghan of Reuter (Kiyv), 26 June 1997.

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