It depends on the government survey, and it depends on statistics, and both can fib.
Dr. Pinker's argument depends on statistics, but Dr. Lifton's rejoinder depends on the historical sense that modernity has been permeated by violence in ever-diversifying forms.
They have more power than drivers are likely ever to exploit, and bragging rights depend on statistics that are, in practical terms, theoretical.
"You depend on statistics, [so] it could [well] be a susceptibility gene, but every time there [will be] a 'but'".
The justifications for the xenophobia are plentiful as Lebanon and its wobbly economy and infrastructure groan under the weight of some 1.5 million Syrians, depending on whose statistics one believes.
Yemen's illiteracy rate hovers around 60-70 percent, depending on whose statistics one believes, the country at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula is considered one of the poorest in the Arab world, and journalists, much less the female variety, are not always accorded the greatest respect.
An impressive health and education system is in tatters, and life expectancy has tumbled from about 60 years in 1990 to somewhere between 36 and 44, depending on which statistics you believe.
Depending on which statistics you use, you can make a convincing case either way.America's Internal Revenue Service publishes figures showing the proportion of income-tax receipts paid by different segments of the population.
Worldwide, depending on which statistics you believe, it is either just ahead of the competition or a close runner-up.
