You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
1 space station
A defunct Chinese space station that had been hurtling towards Earth “landed” Sunday. Tiangong-1 burned up during re-entry and the debris landed in an uninhabited part of the ocean. [CNN]
23 percent
“Black Panther” was responsible for a staggering 23 percent of all movie ticket sales in the first three months of the year, the second highest percentage ever. (“Titanic” took up 25 percent of winter sales in 1998.) This has some analysts spooked about how the movie business may be relying on fewer films to make most of its money, but honestly the winter is not the time to freak out about the movie business. [The Wall Street Journal]
61 percent
A center-left politician won the Costa Rican presidential runoff election with a decisive 61 percent of the vote by promising to allow gay marriage. Alvarado Quesada’s win was viewed largely as a referendum on same-sex rights. [Reuters]
128 goods
China announced tariffs of up to 25 percent on 128 U.S. goods in reaction to the president’s announcement on steel and aluminum. The tariffs will affect over $3 billion worth of imports. [Bloomberg, Axios]
25 million
More than 25 million people went on a cruise in 2017. Right now is an outstanding period for the cruise industry, with companies pivoting their business strategies from “newly wed and nearly dead” to essentially being boozy amusement parks with great food. [Wired]
6 billion
That’s Starbucks’ own estimate for how many cups it distributes worldwide, or around 1 percent of the 600 billion paper and plastic cups that Earth uses in a given year. The company is now trying to find a more sustainable cup. [Eater]
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