May/June 1991, Page 37

Figure It Out

Compiled by Parker L. Payson

Number of refugees, as of May 3, 1991, along Iraqi-Turkish border: 425,000; along Iraqi-Iranian border: 1.1 million ¹

Number of refugees, as of May 3, 1991, who have returned to Iraq: 75,000 ²

Percentage of Americans who are aware of charges that Iraq used chemical weapons against the Kurds and/or Iranians: 80 ³

Percentage of Americans who are aware that Israel occupies Palestinian territory: 31 ⁴

Percentage of Americans who are aware that Syria occupies Lebanese territory: 3 ⁵

Portion of Iraqi-exported oil that passes through Iraqi Kurdish territory: 2/3 ⁶

Amount of oil burning in Kuwait each day, as of May 3, 1991, expressed in terms of US daily oil consumption: 1/3 ⁷

Estimated US cost of the Gulf war as of April 20, 1991: $100 billion ⁸

Total foreign pledges to cover US war costs: $53.5 billion ⁹

Amount received from foreign governments as of April 20, 1991: $35 billion ¹⁰

Estimated number of Jewish residents in the occupied territories: 100,000; Estimated number of Palestinians in the territories: 1.7 million ¹¹

Israeli government-projected increase of Jewish residents in the occupied territories in the next two years: 50 percent ¹²

Estimated cost of personal plane trips made by former Bangladeshi leader Hussain Muhammad Ershad and his wife: $621,300 ¹³

Average cost to extract a barrel of oil from US wells: $5.06 ¹⁴

Average cost to extract a barrel of oil from Kuwaiti wells in 1989: $1; Estimated cost in 1992: $3 ¹⁵

Percentage of Israel's water taken from aquifers under the West Bank: 40 ¹⁶

Average yearly rent for a shop in Beirut's Bourj marketplace in 1975: $1,500; today: $5 ¹⁷

Percentage of Morocco's stateowned businesses affected by the government's six-year, $10 million privatization plan: 10 ¹⁸

Estimated percentage of dwellings in Cairo built since 1970 that violate Egyptian housing codes: 80 ¹⁹

Percentage of Kuwait's prewar private sector work force who were Kuwaiti citizens: 8 ²⁰

Number of Bangladeshis killed by Bengal tigers in March 1991: 50 ²¹

Number of reported deaths, as of May 6, 1991, caused by the cyclone in Bangladesh: 125,000²²

Amount of US emergency aid to Bangladesh, as of May 3, 1991: $2,139,000 ²³

Estimated cost of relief efforts in Bangladesh, as of May 6, 1991: $1.4 billion ²⁴

Annual Bangladeshi government revenues: $1.8 billion ²⁵

Number of Middle East terrorist attacks in 1989: 193; in 1990: 63 ²⁶

Annual Israeli per capita income: $8,700 ²⁷

Government housing grant offered to Israeli families of four living in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories: $19,000 ²⁸

Cost of one dozen eggs in Baghdad in January 1991: $18; in April 1991: $60 ²⁹

Estimated number of Kurds who fled Iraq during Iraqi-Kurdish fighting in 1974-1975: 700,000³⁰

Number of times since 1920 that Iraqi Kurds have been promised autonomy: 6 ³¹

Notes

1 US State Department;

2 Ibid.;

3 Center for Studies in Communication, University of Massachusetts;

4 Ibid.;

5 Ibid. ;

6 Penwell Oil and Gas;

7 US Environmental Protection Agency;

8 US Government Accounting Office;

9 US State Department;

10 Ibid.;

11 Ibid.;

12 Uri Ariel, Gush Emunim settler movement, Reuters;

13 Home Ministry of Bangladesh, Associated Press;

14 American Petroleum Institute;

15 The Wall Street Journal;

16 Joyce R. Starr, San Francisco Chronicle;

17 AJME News;

18 Moroccan Economic Affairs and Privatization Ministry , CAABU Bulletin;

19 Egyptian Office of Urban Administration and Development;

20 Kuwaiti Planning Minister Sulaiman AlMutawa;

21 Reuters, Saudi Gazette;

22 The Washington Post;

23 US State Department;

24 The Washington Post;

25 CIA World Factbook 1990;

26 US State Department, Patterns of Global Terrorism;

27 CIA World Factbook 1990;

28 Report on Israeli Settlement;

29 Associated Press;

30 Middle East International;

31 Encyclopedia Britannica, Middle East International