HARD NUMBERS

2.3 trillion: There’s no better place in the world to be a pet than Japan, where spending on cats alonecontributed ¥2.3 trillion ($20 billion) to the economy. Since 2003 there have been more pets than humans under 15 in Japan, but cats just recently overtook dogs as the pet of choice.

120: In 2017, over 120 million people gained access to electricity worldwide, bringing the total number of people without electricity below 1 billion for the first time ever. In Kenya, electricity reaches 73 percent of the population today, up from just 8 percent in 2000.

67: In a recent poll, 67 percent of people in the EU said they agree with the statement, “The world used to be a better place.” But compared to when? It’s still only a generation ago that Europe was mired in the deadliest conflict in human history.

3: In mid-term elections, the party of the sitting president has picked upseats in the US Congress only 3 times since 1934. The Democrats did it in 1934 (FDR) and 1998 (Clinton), and the Republicans did it in 2002 (George W. Bush).

1: Signal asks our readers for one (1) moment of silence for T-1, the wily killer tigress who evaded capture for months in the Indian state of Maharashtra. She was killed in an attempt to tranquilize and capture her over the weekend. Her story highlighted the challenges surrounding India’s tiger population – conservation efforts have caused the population to rise, while development has eroded their habitats, often bringing them into deadly contact with humans.