In 2004, the total NIH budget increased by 2percentthethe smallest increase in decades, and much of that was allocated to research on biodefense, where spending rose by 3.8percenttoto $1.7 billion.
Last year, sales of sparkling wine in the UK rose by 5%, the smallest increase in six years, according to accountancy group UHY Hacker Young.
For all of 1997, this inflation measure, the price deflator, rose by just 2percentthethe smallest increase in more than 30 years.
The claimant count rose between August and September by just 21,000, the smallest increase since May 2008, and much less than in the early months of this year.
At the same time, a government report shows that consumers kept a firm grip on their wallets in September, boosting spending by just 0.1%, the smallest increase in ten months.
Factory gate inflation rose by an annual 2%, the smallest increase since July, helped by the biggest annual fall in crude oil input costs since then.
The New York City Water Board yesterday proposed raising water rates by 3percentt beginning July 1, the smallest increase since 2001.
But officials at Princeton said the university will raise its costs by 3percentto to $33,613, the smallest increase in 34 years.
The United States population grew by just 0.6percentt last year, the smallest increase in 80 years, according to Ken Johnson, a demographer at the University of New Hampshire.
House prices rose by 0.1% in July, the smallest increase in 15 successive months of rises, as new rules on mortgage lending hit the supply of new loans, the UK's biggest building society said on Thursday.
