Sunday, November 16, 2008
1 How many countries belong to the United Nations, and what is the last state to have joined?
2 How many countries were created when the Soviet Union dissolved, and how many of them are NATO members?
3 What percentage of world GDP is produced by the United States and China?
4 In what war did the most people die in the last 25 years?
5 Which presidents since 1945 have supported a comprehensive ban on testing nuclear weapons?
6 How many countries does the United States have more than 1,000 troops deployed in?
7 How many countries does the United States have free trade agreements with?
8 What are the top 10 countries with which the United States had a trade deficit in August 2008, and what fraction of last year's trade deficit was due to petroleum?
9 How many U.S. citizens were naturalized in 2006? How many illegal immigrants were added to the U.S. population in 2006?
10 What percentage of the world's population lives in the United States?
Answers:
1: One hundred ninety-two; Montenegro joined on June 28, 2006.
2: Fifteen; they are Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia. The last three joined NATO on March 24, 2004.
3: 25 percent and 6 percent, but 21 percent and 11 percent when accounting for local purchasing power, according to the 2007 CIA World Factbook.
4: Congo, 1998-present, estimated at 5.4 million as of January 2008, according to the International Rescue Committee.
5: Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton
6: Thirteen as of June 30. They are Belgium, Germany, Italy, Serbia + Kosovo, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Bahrain, Djbouti, Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Defense Department.
7: Fourteen; they are Israel, Canada, Mexico, Jordan, Chile, Singapore, Australia, Morocco, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Bahrain. Colombia, Panama and South Korea are pending congressional approval, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
8: In order from largest to smallest: China, Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Venezuela, Nigeria, Germany, Iraq, and Algeria; 41 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
9: More than half a million. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the number is 702,589.
10: As of 2008, about 304 million, or 4.5 percent of 6.7 billion, according to the CIA World Factbook.
Alexander H. Montgomery is Assistant Professor of political science at Reed College and visiting Assistant Professor at Stanford.
