The perception of political corruption in the world

No country is free from political corruption, but corruption is far from affecting all countries alike. Every year Transparency International, a Berlin-based NGO devoted to fighting political corruption and spreading information about it, draws a corruption perception index showing the corruption level perceived by businessmen and political analysts in their own countries. The ten most corrupted countries in the world include one from the Caribbean (Haiti), five from Central Asia and the Middle East (Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Iraq and Afghanistan), one from Southeast Asia (Myanmar) and three from Africa (Chad, Sudan and Somalia).

Most countries of northern Europe come out on top as the less corrupted countries, but there are also some surprises: New Zealand ranks number 1 and Singapore ranks number 3.

Within the European Union, Bulgaria, Greece and Romania are the three countries where corruption is perceived to be higher. In Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland, the perceived level of public corruption is the lowest. Spain ranks number 32 in the worldwide list, after such countries as Israel, Cyprus or Chile, and number 18 within the list of the 30 EU countries.

Sources:

1. http://www.transparency.org/
2. Worldwide corruption perception index 2009 drawn by Transparency International: http://www.transparency.org/publications/publications/annual_reports/ti_ar2009
3. EU corruption perception index 2009 drawn by Transparency International: http://www.transparencia.org.es/INDICE%20DE%20PERCEPCI%C3%93N%202009/Regiones.%20Union%20Europea%20y%20Europa%20del%20Oeste%5B1%5D.pdf

How many countries are there in the world?

In theory, it should be easy to count the countries in the world: an atlas or an encyclopaedia should be enough. However, many territories do not have a well-defined status or are not accepted by the international community as independent states. This is the case of Taiwan, an independent country since 1949 but not recognised as such by the UN and most countries because of the pressure exerted by the Chinese government, considering Taiwan just a rebel territory within Chinese borders.
Not even the United Nations dares to count the countries in the world --in its web site, the FAQ “How many countries are there in the world?” is answered as follows:  “We are not an authority on this topic. We suggest you visit a public library in your area, consult an encyclopaedia or a world almanac”.
And this is precisely what we did. There are 193 states with general international recognition: 192 member states of the United Nations plus the Vatican City, which is a UN permanent observer but not a member country.
Besides these 193 states, there are several other countries, be them independent or not, which claim this status. The number of non-recognised countries depends on the author, but the most generous list accounts for 50 more countries, which added to the 193 internationally recognised countries, make up a total of 243.
Out of these extra 50 countries, 9 or 10 are fully sovereign states which do not have general international recognition, including Taiwan (recognised only by 24 countries), the Turkish part of Cyprus (de facto independent state that is recognised only by Turkey), Palestinian territories in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank (recognised by 92 countries), Kosovo (recognised by more than one third of UN members but not by Spain) and South Ossetia.
Also, there are about 40 inhabited regions subject to other countries but in the process of becoming independent states, like Greenland and the Faroe Islands (belonging to Denmark) or with a status of its own, like some former colonies of European countries which are more or less autonomous regions still belonging to the metropolis. This list also includes some special cases like the Cook Islands, in free association with New Zealand, or the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, recognised by international treaties.
Finally, there are many territories willing to become independent and it is possible that some of them manage to do so in the upcoming years, becoming part of this list.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the UN washes its hands when counting the countries in this world.
 
Sources: 

1. http://www.un.org/en/
2. http://www.un.org/geninfo/faq/faq/faq.html

 

The attraction of heavenly bodies and astrology

People have always believed weird things. Since we are human beings, our anxiety to find answers to our questions makes us develop scientific knowledge, but it also makes us feel distressed when we cannot find those answers, turning our distress into myth and pseudoscience in the form of magic, tarot, ghosts, astrology or mythology. As our knowledge progresses, some of these fantastic explanations disappear, as it was the case of our belief that thunder is an expression of gods’ hostility when we do things wrong.
However, some of these believes are still present in our minds and we use science-like language to legitimize those explanations into gullible ears.
Astrologists, for instance, talk about the force of heavenly bodies to justify their influence on our character and our life, using the science-like language of gravitational attraction. Newton’s laws are quoted in astrology books a much as in astronomy books.
Well then, let’s check it. According to astrologists, Mars’ gravitational attraction is one of these forces having such a strong influence at the time of our birth that it may mark our life for good. Mars is a planet a little bit smaller than the Earth, with a mass of 6 x 10²³ kg at 7.7 x 10¹⁰ metres away from us. Therefore, according to Newton’s law of gravitation (there is a gravitational force between any two bodies in the universe, which is proportionally greater in function of their mass and proportionally smaller in function of their distance), Mars exerts a force of 6.8 x 10-8 kg on any person weighing 100 kg located on the surface of the Earth. Funnily enough, Mars’ force is exactly the same as any other person’s weighing 220 pounds (100 kg) standing at a distance of just 3 feet. Therefore, here we have another axiom for astrology:
"If Mars’ gravitational force exerts any influence on our character when we are born, the influence of the gravitational force of a chubby midwife standing three feet from us would be even greater. And the gravitational force of the walls in the operating room would be so significant that they would affect our character for good."

Sources:

1.  Michael Shermer. Why people believe weird things.  http://www.michaelshermer.com/weird-things/ 
2. A good introduction to the mechanisms making us believe in pseudoscience and other believes without scientific grounding. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitation 
3. The data about the attraction exerted by Mars and by a 220-pound person are quoted from A scientist by the seashore, by James S. Trefil, a popular science book teaching physics about what we can see and experiment on a beach. http://www.amazon.com/Scientist-Seashore-Dover-Science-Books/dp/048644564X 
4. Carl Sagan’s quote on obstetricians and astrology:  http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan

Which is the budget of the Royal Household of Spain?

As it is the case of Defence, the cost of maintaining the Royal Household is difficult to know. In the General State Budgets of Spain, there is a clearly assigned item for the Royal Family (8,663,020 € in 2008), but there are other hidden items within the budgets for Home Affairs, Patrimony, Defence, etc. It is estimated that the real annual cost of maintaining a monarchy amounts to 25 million euros, which is three time and a half more than the budget of the Ministry of Education in 2009 meant for continuing education for teachers (6,310,360 €) and almost two times more than the expenditure in childhood and family services (13,540,530 €).

Sources:

1. Official budget of the Royal Household of Spain (spanish):
   http://www.sgpg.pap.meh.es/Presup/PGE2008Ley/PGE-ROM/doc/1/3/1/2/2/N_08_E_R_31_101_1_1_2_3.PDF 
2. Article in the Spanish newspaper El País about the difficulties to know how much the Royal Family gets (spanish):
   http://www.elpais.com/articulo/reportajes/Cuentas/demasiado/opacas/elpepusocdmg/20071230elpdmgrep_3/Tes 
3. Article in the Spanish newspaper El Economista estimating that the actual budget for the Royal Family amounts to 25 millions euros:
   http://www.eleconomista.es/economia/noticias/113839/12/06/Chirac-se-salta-la-egalite-la-Republica-cuesta-4-veces-mas-que-el-Rey-de-Espana.html 
4. Spanish General State Budgets 2009 (Education):
   http://www.sgpg.pap.meh.es/Presup/PGE2009Ley/MaestroTomos/PGE-ROM/doc/L_09_E_G8.PDF (see page 121)        

How many people have ever lived on Earth throughout history and which percentage of people is alive today?

Such estimation is purely speculative and impossible to calculate with some hope of success, not only because there are no data about the demographics in our planet throughout most parts of human history, but also because we would never agree on when to start the count. However, taking into account the speculations about demographics in each period and the birth rates, it can be estimated as follows: in the last 50,000 years, about 107,890,000,000 people lived on Earth. At present, we are about 7 billion people (6,866,900,000), resulting in just 6.3% of human beings who have ever lived on this planet since our species first appeared.

Sources: 

1. http://www.blogodisea.com/cuantas-personas-vivido-tierra-hasta-dia-hoy/ 
2. Population Reference Bureau (USA): http://www.prb.org