Numbers

HEALTH INSURANCE

$12,106

Health-insurance premium for the average family in 2006. The total spent on health care topped $2 trillion for the first time ever

23%

Percentage of respondents to an eHealthInsurance survey who said they were sure they understood the meaning of key terms like HMO, PPO and HSA used in their health-insurance policies

ASSIMILATION

88%

Percentage of second-generation Latinos fluent in English; 23% of first-generation Latinos say they can converse very well in English

56%

Percentage of second-generation Latinos who say they speak Spanish very well

HEALTH

65%

Percentage of American adults who are dieting, exercising or doing both during any nonholiday period

29

Number of pounds that at least 25% of American adults currently on a diet would like to lose. Regular exercisers said they want to drop an average of 14 lbs.

WEALTH

$46,380

The U.K.'s gross domestic product this year, $500 more than in the U.S. For the first time since the 19th century, the average Brit will earn more than his or her U.S. counterpart

1993

Year the U.K.'s GDP per capita lagged 34% behind the U.S. average, in the wake of Britain's last major recession

Sources: Philadelphia Inquirer; eHealthInsurance; Pew Research Center (4); BBC (2)