Monday, Apr. 05, 2004

Numbers

2019 Year that Medicare's hospital trust fund, which pays for inpatient hospital care, will run out of money, according to a new government report

7 Number of years the fund's projected life span has been shortened since the report's last estimate, one year ago

$151 million Amount bet on the NCAA basketball tournament in Nevada in 2003

$3.5 billion Estimated annual amount bet illegally on the tournament

2.5 billion Gallons of water it would take a day to support 4.7 billion people at the U.N. daily minimum

2.5 billion Gallons of water used a day to irrigate the world's golf courses

$63.8 million Average cost to produce a major studio film in 2003, up nearly 9% from 2002

$39 million Average cost to market a major studio film last year, a 28% increase from the previous year

Sources: USA Today; New York Times; USA Today (2); world watch.org (2); Motion Picture Association of America (2)