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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TUESDAY, DEC. 15, 2009
Texting More Than Doubles in the Last Year
Census Bureau Releases 2010 Statistical Abstract Depicting the
State of Our Nation
How r u? The way we communicate is rapidly evolving, as evidenced by the fact that the number of text
messages sent on cell phones has more than doubled from 48 billion in 2007 to 110 billion in 2008,
according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010.
The Statistical Abstract, aka “Uncle Sam’s Almanac,” perennially the federal government’s best-selling
reference book, has been published since 1878 — before automobiles, airplanes and motion pictures had
even been invented. Contained in the 129th edition are more than 1,400 tables of social, political and
economic facts which collectively describe the state of our nation and the world. Included are 53 new
tables, covering topics such as worldwide space launch events this decade, the use of complementary and
alternative medicine, the type of work flexibility provided to employees, employment status of veterans and
road fatalities by country.
The statistics come not only from the U.S Census Bureau but also from other governmental agencies
and private organizations. The data are generally for the most recent year or period available by summer
2009. Most of the data are national-level, but some tables present state- and even city- and metropolitan-
level data as well.
Highlights include:
Don’t read all about it …
z The number of daily newspapers declined from 1,480 in 2000 to 1,408 in 2008. Likewise, the average
number of daily newspapers sold dropped from 55.8 million copies in 2000 to 48.6 million in 2008.
(Table 1098)
Surfing … at the library
z In 2007, the nation’s 16,604 libraries collectively had an average of 12.5 public-use computers
connected to the Internet per library. In Florida libraries there were