The Last Gasp

Proportion of Canadians who received at least 1 gift last Christmas that they didn't like, didn't fit into or couldn't use: 34%

Proportion who returned the unwanted gift: 26%

Proportion who use the unwanted gift, even though they don't like it: 18%

Proportion who regifted: 25%

Proportion of Canadians who own at least 1 pair of blue jeans: 87%

Proportion who own 6 or more pairs: 23%

Reduction in the number of plastic bags circulating in Ireland in the last year following the introduction of a 10-cent per bag tax: 1 billion

Number of plastic shopping bags used in the United Kingdom last year: 8 billion

Number of pieces of plastic floating in each square mile of our oceans: 46 000

Proportion of Canadians who claim to eat a well-balanced, healthy diet most of the time: 73%

Proportion who, on the day before they were surveyed, ate 5 servings of fruits and vegetables as recommended by the Canada Food Guide: 17%

Proportion of Canadian children with obese parents who will become obese due to a combination of genetic and lifestyle factors: 80%

Proportion of adult Canadians who become frustrated when they see other drivers multi-tasking on the road: 87%

Proportion who have multi-tasked while driving at least once this past year: 76%

Proportion of adult Canadians who agree that wearing a helmet for cycling, skateboarding and inline skating can prevent serious injury: 97%

Proportion who wear a helmet while cycling: 40%

Age of Harriet, the Galapagos land tortoise brought to England by Sir Charles Darwin and the oldest known living creature on earth: 171 years

Average lifespan of a Galapagos land tortoise: 150 years

… of a hummingbird: 8 years

… of a Queen ant: 15 years

… of an elephant: 69 years

Estimated number of deaths caused by the Great Smog of London in 1952: 4000

Estimated weight of smoke particles sent into air above London each day of the Great Smog: 1000 tonnes

Proportion of fine particulates in Canadian air attributable to residential combustion of wood: 25%

Number of kg of oxygen produced annually by a healthy tree: 118

Average annual oxygen consumption of a person at rest at 20 degrees C: 182 kg

Proportion of all holiday floral arrangements purchased for Christmas and Hanukkah: 33%

Proportion of Christmas and Hanukkah floral arrangements purchased by women: 80%

Proportion purchased for themselves: 51%

Age of the 3 oldest Nobel laureates: 87

Age of the youngest: 25

Number of people who attended this year's IgNobel Awards: 1200

Year that William Lipscomb, the prize in the IgNobel's 2002 Win-a-date-with-a-Nobel-Laureate Contest, won his Nobel prize: 1976

Year when the first known Christmas card was printed: 1843

Number of greeting cards purchased in the US every year: 7 billion

Christmas card sales as a proportion of all individual seasonal card sales: 25%