Most popular car color for select regions
According to DuPont’s 2007 Global Automotive Color Popularity Report, silver no longer dominates others as the color of choice. Although silver maintained its lead in South Korea and China, it faced a decline in North America, Europe, and Japan, reporting a drop on year-to-year popularity from 2006 to 2007, while also falling behind white for North American and Japan, and black in Europe. Conservative colors are still the most popular, with tones of white, silver, black, and gray dominating market share in 2006 and 2007. As reported in the figures’ press release, industry experts believe the white revolution is a continuation in fashion and home decor trends in the various areas. One can infer from this idea that demand for the purest of colors will shift into other industries as well.
Percent of R&D spending for select OECD countries
The politics of spending are ever present for OECD countries whose research and development (R&D) spending vacillate around the OECD-average of 30% of R&D spending by the government and 63% of R&D spending coming from the private sector. Among the highest government R&D spenders are Portugal, Turkey, and Mexico while the least R&D spending is conducted by the Japanese, Luxembourg, and Swiss governments. For private R&D spending, Luxembourg, South Korea, and Japan rank highest, while Portuguese, Hungarian, and New Zealand spends the least on research and development. The US brings numbers of 65% for private spending, while 29% of the country’s R&D spending is public. The European Union has figures of 54% for industry and 35% for government.
Average hours worked per person in select OECD countries
Are the French the laziest workers in the world? According to data on select OECD countries, France is one of the lowest, as its average worker clocks in only 1,555 hours a year. However, the Dutch work even less hours then their increasingly boisterous counterparts, clocking just 1,391 hours a year. In accordance with stereotypes, the most overworked are South Koreans, who earn their vacation after 2,357 hours on the job a year on average, followed by citizens of the Czech Republic, who average 1,997 hours a year and Hungarians with 1,989 hours a year. The OECD average of 1,750 is higher than that of the Euro-zone, whose workers spend 149 less hours on the job at an average of 1,601 hours a year. The United States found itself in the OECD and the Euro-zone average, with moderate figures of 1,715 per worker in 2,006.
Energy production for select OECD countries
From OECD data, it appears that countries best endowed with natural resources are the prime producers of energy within the OECD. Heading the pack is Canada, which produces 385.3 million tons of oil equivalent (mtoe), followed by Australia at 253.5 mtoe, and Mexico at 242.5 mtoe. Norway, with the help of its sea-based crude endowments, produces 233.2 mtoe, slightly lower than its North Sea neighbor the United Kingdom (UK), which produces 246.4 mtoe a year. Among the lowest energy producers of the OECD were Ireland and Iceland, which produced only 1.9 and 2.5 mtoe relatively. The two countries are joined by other single-digit performers, including Greece, Portugal, Austria and the Slovak Republic.
