Stats from The Week

The May 19th issue of The Week, by far my favorite news magazine, has its usual roundup of statistics snippets. These two caught my eye:

The New York City metropolitan area is home to 7 percent of the U.S. population and 23 percent of the psychiatrists. (from The New York Times) 

That's amazing yet completely believable. Presumably, the number of patients seen by these shrinks is much higher than 7 percent of the U.S. population as well.

Fifty-two percent of teenagers who signed an abstinence program's promise to remain virgins until marriage had sex within one year, according to a new study of 14,000 teens. (from the Los Angeles Times)

Well, I suppose that's also pretty believable, but it leaves out an important contrast: If you survey 14,000 teens who did not sign an abstinence agreement, what percentage of them remained virgins after a year? That would tell us something even more useful.