What do these three things have in common: tanks, abortions and instant coffee? They are all things that Russia exports, performs or consumes more than any other nation.
Esquire magazine's Russian-language edition on Monday released a list of 24 things for which Russia is a statistically proven world leader.
One standout is the consumption of instant coffee, in which Russia outranked previous leader Japan, according to a study by marketing agency Navigator. However, Russia was only sixth in the world in overall coffee consumption.
The country that won the world's biggest tank battle — the Battle of Kursk, 1943 — is also the biggest supplier of battle tanks. Russian exports of the vehicles are expected to reach 859 in the 2009-2013 period, according to the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of the Global Arms Trade.
On a different note, Russia saw more pregnancies end in abortion than live birth last year. There were 1,022 abortions per 1,000 births, according to state statistics. The runner-up, Romania, only performed 684 abortions per 1,000 births.
Russia is also a world leader in web surfing — 6.6 hours a day per capita, according to comScore — and cyberattacks, with 2.4 million in May, according to Deutsche Telekom.
Also, between 28 days of state-sanctioned vacation and 12 days of national holidays, Russians get the most days off among residents of the world's 40 biggest countries, Hotels.com said.
Economy-related number ones include income inequality. One percent of Russians control 71 percent of the country's wealth, according to Global Wealth Report.
Other number ones include the most polluted places. Eight of the 35 places listed by the U.S.-based Blacksmith Institute were in Russia.
Since Esquire first published the number-ones list, in 2005, the country is no longer the world leader in policemen per capita, having been overtaken by Bahrain. It has also dropped off the top-spot in terms of commercial space launches and prison population, as well as exports of sunflower seed oil and, remarkably, kangaroo meat.
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