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Hard Numbers: Being dead in Hong Kong Ain’t Cheap

499: Burkina Faso has long been one of West Africa's more peaceful nations, but conflict has spiked in recent months, as anti-government groups and Islamic extremists have expanded. Some 449 civilian fatalities were registered there over the past five months, 70 times the count during the same period last year.

32 million: By the 2020 US presidential election, 32 million Hispanics are expected to be registered to vote, surpassing the number of registered African-American voters for the first time ever. Roughly two-thirds of Hispanic voters have supported Democratic candidates in recent elections.


25: Over the first two months of 2019, the murder rate in Brazil dropped by a sizable 25 percent compared to the same period last year. That could give a boost to President Jair Bolsonaro, who campaigned on a pledge to improve law and order.

90: It can now more expensive to buy a house for the dead in Hong Kong than for the living—with burial plots running from $382,000 to $637,000. Space is so expensive that 90 percent of those who die in Hong Kong opt to be cremated – and finding an affordable spot for ashes ain't cheap either.

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Credit Image: © Amy Katz/ZUMA Press Wire
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​A Chinese clerk counts RMB (renminbi) yuan banknotes at a bank in Lianyungang city, east China's Jiangsu province, on Aug. 11, 2015.

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Oriental Image via Reuters Connect
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