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Statistics

Headings on this page :

1. Facts and figures

Statistics given on other pages
- how to find them using xStatistics:markers and PicoSearch

BEWARE ! - most of the statistics given on this site are to be found on other pages - under the appropriate topic - such as :

• the Charities page
• the Charity shops page - including :
  - a table giving our estimates of typical prices of second-hand goods in charity shops
  - the number of charity shops in the UK
  - their turnover and profits
• Delivery of collection leaflets and bags - and collection of filled bags
• Prosecutions of collectors

We're being ever-so-helpful by arranging things so you can find most of them easily - wherever they are on the site.  We're going through each page and adding a searchable marker thus: xstatistics:immediately before each statistics item. This helps you (and us) in two ways :

1. When you're looking at a single page :
- these coloured markers stand out, and
- you can search the page with your browser for xstatistics

2. You can search for the markers across the whole site using the "PicoSearch" search box at the bottom of each page - and typing in the magic word:  xstatistics  (yes, "statistics" with an "x" at the beginning).

You get a search-results list.  This gives a long extract ('concordance') for each entry - so you can see the context (of two or three lines).

A bodge:  Until PicoSearch has a change of heart (see below), where there are more than 4 statistics markers on a web page, you have to use a bodge (a workaround) as follows.  You type: "xstatistics 1xstatistics 2xstatistics" (without the quotes).  This gets the first 10 or so of them on each page.  By the way, it's case-insensitive - it doesn't matter what mixture of upper and lower case you use.

Help! - At present, we're using the free online PicoSearch facility.  Unfortunately, it's limited in crucial ways - such as (a) a maximum of only 4 hits per search-term, per web page, and (b) no highlighting.  We've gone on bended knees, but the nice people at PicoSearch (so far) won't upgrade us to their 'cheapest' paid-for software for free (or at a realistic discount).  They seem to think we're the Wellcome Foundation   So, we need :`

• persuasive people to contact PicoSearch and convince them of the error of their ways.  They're based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
  - "PicoSearch from SAS" www.PicoSearch.com  
  - telephone:  (617) 547-4020  =USA
• or a good-Samaritan benefactor who'll pay the $249 per year for it
  - contact us if you're feeling generous . . .
• or a better, free search engine

Note: We've used an artificial word ('xStatistics') for the name of the markers - rather than just 'statistics'.  This was done so that a search for them is 100% accurate - whereas if we'd just called them 'statistics', you'd retrieve all mentions of the word statistics.

Sources: Many of our statistics have been taken from external sources.

The remaining statistics have been compiled by us.  We did this because there were virtually no statistics available on clothing collections (and related matters) when we started.

Since then, a number of writers have quoted our figures - including journalists working for national newspapers and an MP in Parliament.  1xStatistics:Example: the "less than 1-in-10,000" prosecution figure on the enforcement page.  Let's hope we got our figures right.

Statistics given on this page
= general statistics (especially on the UK)

Note:  To make the section below easy to read, we've not added the xStatistics:logo to each-and-every item.

Below, we've added some general statistics - especially on the UK.  We'll add more later.`

Note :
- a "billion" is 1,000 million (= 1,000,000,000)
- a "trillion" is 1 million million (= 1,000 billion)

Population :

Source of the table above (screengrab image) :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_United_Kingdom   (at Feb 2011)
Our thanks to Wikipedia and the volunteer-contributors

The land area of Scotland is around 55% of England's - but its population is only 10% of England's.

Population of Greater London: 7.5 million (at mid-2007).

Population of South East England:  Around 30% of the UK's population lives in the SE (=around 18 million people).

Homes:  There are 25 million homes (=households) in the UK (at 2010).

Income:  Average gross annual earnings per employee: £26,000 (in 2008).  Source: BBC

Vehicles:  "At the end of 2010 there were 34.1 million vehicles licensed for use on the roads in Great Britain, of which 28.4 million were cars."  Source: Department for Transport (DfT), from DVLA

Retail:  In 2010 UK retail sales were over £293 billion.  Source: British Retail Consortium (BRC)

2xStatistics:Clothing and footwear:  Expenditure (per household) was £20.90 per week (at 30 Nov 2010).  Source: report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS): "Family Spending"

2xStatistics:Clothing and footwear :

Statistics on the website of the European Recycling Company (ERC) (at Feb 2011) :

• Consumers in the UK purchase 2.15 million tonnes of new clothing and shoes each year
• Textiles and shoes make up approximately 12% of all UK landfill
• Over 70% of the world's population use second hand clothes

Waste:  On average every household in the UK throws away 1.2 tonnes of waste every year.  This amounts to 30 million tonnes in total.  Source: Waste Watch report (November 2005)

Useful sources of statistical information - other websites etc

• Office for National Statistics (ONS)   = a central government agency
• DirectGov   = the government's umbrella website/portal
• Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)  
• BBC website  
• Wikipedia   = 3 million articles in English
• Wikipedia: page entitled "Statistics"  
• Wikipedia: long page entitled "United Kingdom"  
• "More or Less"   = BBC Radio 4 programme on statistics, presented by Tim Harford
• "How to lie with statistics" - classic book by Darrell Huff (pub: Penguin)
• University of Kent careers service - tips on questions posed at job interviews  
  - eg "How many piano tuners are there in the UK?" (back-of-the-envelope calculations)
• Reports by Oakdene Hollins Research & Consulting   for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) - on recycling and reuse - eg clothing
  We recommend you look at these reports

2. Background information

Compiling statistics

A coloured, exploded 3D pie chart

You can compile statistics two ways :

1. by using sophisticated mathematics - like probability, correlation, normal distributions, regression, variance, t-tests . . .
2. by using basic arithmetic - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

Using the latter (just basic arithmetic), you can devise reliable and revealing statistics (estimates) - so long as it's done carefully and you use common sense.

A simple technique is "back-of-the-envelope calculation" (=BOTE) - see the Wikipedia page on it   The eminent scientist (physicist) Enrico Fermi used this method a lot.

Presenting statistics
=background information

Pie charts and histograms

You can display figures as a list, but often it's better to do it as a table.  Also, it helps if they're presented 'visually' - using graphics, eg pie charts or histograms - "a picture is worth a thousand words".  See :

• The iconic books on presenting data - by Edward R Tufte (ET)  
• Plain Figures   = a consulting and training company
• The Diagram Group   = Diagram Visual Information Ltd
• Dorling Kindersley   = British book publisher
• Books and articles by Elizabeth Orna (and Graham Stevens)

Some of these links above also deal with the issue of presentation of information in general - one of our pet interests (we should get out more).  In turn, these topics lead on to the issue of plain English - and effective communication.  See our Plain English article.