10 Stark Numbers

Amidst the peak shedding season for retrospectives, I came across one of many coronavirus Top Tens. (Subscription req’d via London’s Telegraph.)

Here’s their headline-summarised economics editor 10 stark numbers that tell the story of Covid;

1. $11.5 trillion: estimated spend by world governments to tackle Covid-19
2. 19.8pc: The biggest quarterly drop in UK GDP ever
3. -$37.63 Negative oil price
4. £394bn: the UK’s deficit this year
5. 20.8m: US unemployment in April
6. 33.9pc: share of online spending in May
7. 27.4pc: record household savings rate
8. 300m: number of daily Zoomers
9. 334,635: passengers passing through UK airports in April 2020 (less than Heathrow Airport on July 29 2018, when it alone handled 261,909 passengers – its busiest day on record)
10. 97,532: Mortgage approvals for new homes in October

I was surprised that there wasn’t an ending something like:

11. 91: the age of Margaret, from Coventry, the first person to receive her jab as part of the world’s first inoculation rollout

Still, it was written by an economist.

As kick-off conferences across the globe move to virtual events, this trope remains a staple of such agenda.

What numbers give insight into your year gone past? It may even be the last time you mention 2020 in name, hey.

And which ones give rise to the hope of 2021 and beyond?

Match these up with your direction and general plans for the ‘bounce back’, and you could well have a neat, short and memorable session for your virtual running order this year.