Yay for Statistics!

OK, I admit it, I love statistics. I love it in the same way I love ballet: I love seeing the product of all that hard work and training, but could never attempt it myself. I got to meet a statistician once, and when I started gushing about what an awesome job she must have, the befuddled woman replied, "Wow, no one's reacted that way before." It's not that I curl up with The basic practice of statistics after a day's work, but the procession of numbers can still be fascinating.

The motherlode of facts and statistics in the US is getting rolled out right now. That's right, the results of the 2010 Census are finding their way across the web. Just a few to try on: Between 2000 and 2010, the population of the City of Santa Fe increased from 62,203 to 67, 947. That's almost six thousand people! The County also saw a jump, from 134,525 to 144,170. New Mexico finally crossed the 2 million mark, hitting 2,059,170 residents on April 1, 2010, up from a count of 1,829,146 in 2000. But don't take my word for it: check out the American FactFinder site for all the statistics and numbers and charts that you could hope for.

If you're not a statistics fan but still have a bit of interest, go to Worldometers. They have real-time numbers for everything from world population to food, water, and energy. As of this writing, the world population is inching towards the seven billion mark; 342,828 new book tiles have been published this year; almost 17,000 people have died of hunger today. An interesting, if somewhat jarring, snapshot of the world we live in.

Interested in statistics closer to home? The Library has a Facts and Statistics page that we update annually, and we hang onto the historical data so you can get a glimpse of our popularity and growth. Enjoy the numbers!