FACTBOX: Beijing by numbers
(Reuters) - Statistics about Beijing and the 2008 Olympic Games, which start on August 8, 2008:
THE GAMES
16 - days from opening to closing ceremony.
302 - sport events
21,600 - accredited journalists
100,000 - official Olympic and Paralympic volunteers
400,000 - city volunteers to provide tourist services,
bolster security
1,000,000 - social volunteers at community level
16,000 - athletes and officials in the Olympic
Village
91,000 - seats in the "Bird's Nest" National Olympic
stadium
31 - venues in Beijing
6 - venues outside Beijing (Hong Kong, Qingdao,
Tianjin, Shenyang, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao)
7,000,000 - tickets sold for the Games
5,000 yuan - cost of opening ceremony seat ($661.4)
30 yuan - general admission for softball preliminaries
($3.97)
24.9 Celsius - average temperature in Beijing in August
159.7 mm - average rainfall in Beijing in August
50 percent - forecast chance of rain on August 8, day of
opening ceremony
8 - number of thunderstorms forecast for Games
period
THE CITY
16,330,000 - permanent residents of the city (2007)
$6,210 - GDP per capita (2006)
19,978 yuan - urban disposable income per capita ($2,641,
2006)
4,680,000 - Internet users (at end of 2006)
3,903,000 - visitors to Beijing (2006)
2,500,000 - expected visitors to Beijing during Games
120 bn yuan - investment in environmental improvement from
1998 to 2006 ($15.87 billion)
246 - "blue sky days" in 2007*
256 - "blue sky days" targeted for 2008*
123 - "blue sky days" in first six months of 2008*
65,000 - old buses and taxis to be taken off the road
before the Games
5,850,000 - tonnes of garbage produced in the city in 2006
77,000 - cars in Beijing, 1978
3,300,000 - forecast number of cars in Beijing by Games
1,060 - extra cars hitting Beijing roads every day
198 km - subway track in Beijing by 2008
10,000,000 - bicycles in Beijing
* "Blue sky days" denote satisfactory air quality according to official measures, which some experts have dismissed as unscientific and incomplete compared to other international standards.
Sources: Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), Beijing Municipal Government, Xinhua News Agency, CCTV.
