A fact, all but the important part of which has embedded itself indelibly in my brain

[fivemack]

"Of men born in the Soviet Union in 1921, one in _____ lived to see the age of thirty".

I can't remember the number and have not figured out how to look it up. I have a strong feeling that it's more than five.

Comments

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

The final graph in http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/dyl236v1.pdf looks potentially informative.

[simont]

In principle, this sounds like just the sort of question that Wolfram Alpha ought to be able to answer for you.

Bet it can't, though.

[addedentry.livejournal.com]

I thought Google Books would be a good place to look; it didn't lead me directly to the figure but it did supply an excellent chapter on Soviet demographics.

A naive Google search found a quote in The Guardian which would make the number an extraordinary twenty-five: 'Of the young men born in the USSR in 1921, only four percent survived the War'. That's The Guardian, newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia.

[humanoid27.livejournal.com]

1 in 10, a number on a list, i am a 1 in 10, even though i don't exist... or something...
it's either 10 or three. it's always one of those two... ;)

seriously tho, i've never heard that before.

[monkeyhands.livejournal.com]

In a lightning storm, the most dangerous place to be is in a [...] IN NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU [... ]!!