16. Almanacs

Sample Page: The World Almanac




Public Debt of the U.S.
Source: Bureau of Public Debt, U.S. Dept. of the Treasury
Fiscal year Debt (billions) Debt per cap. (dollars) Interest paid (billions) % of federal outlays Fiscal year Debt (billions) Debt per cap. (dollars) Interest paid (billions) % of federal outlays
1870  $2.4 $61.06 — — 1979 $826.5 $3,669 $59.8 11.9
1880   2.0   41.60 — — 1980  907.7  3,985  74.9 12.7
1890   1.1   17.80 — — 1981  997.9  4,338  95.6 14.1
1900   1.2   16.60 — — 1982 1,142.0  4,913 117.4 15.7
1910   1.1   12.41 — — 1983 1,377.2  5,870 128.8 15.9
1920  24.2    228 — — 1984 1,572.3  6,640 153.8 18.1
1930  16.1    131 — — 1985 1,823.1  7,598 178.9 18.9
1940  43.0    325 $1.0 10.5 1986 2,125.3  8,774 190.2 19.2
1945 258.7   1,849  3.8  4.1 1987 2,350.3  9,615 195.4 19.5
1950 256.1   1,688  5.7 13.4 1988 2,602.3 10,534 214.1 20.1
1955 272.8   1,651  6.4  9.4 1989 2,857.4 11,545 240.9 21.0
1960 284.1   1,572  9.2 10.0 1990 3,233.3 13,000 264.8 21.1
1965 313.8   1,613 11.3  9.6 1991 3,665.3 14,436 285.5 21.6
1970 370.1   1,814 19.3  9.9 1992 4,064.6 15,846 292.3 21.2
1975 533.2   2,475 32.7  9.8 1993 4,411.5 17,105 292.5 20.8
1976 620.4   2,852 37.1 10.0 1994 4,692.8 18,025 296.3 20.3
1977 698.8   3,170 41.9 10.2 1995 4,974.0 18,930 332.4 22.0
1978 771.5   3,463 48.7 10.6 1996 5,224.8 19,805 344.0 22.0

Note: Through 1976 the fiscal year ended June 30. From 1977 on, the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.


Consumer Price Index
The Consumer Price index (CPI) is a measure of the average change in prices over time of basic consumer goods and services. From Jan. 1978, the Bureau of Labor Statistics began publishing CPI's for 2 population groups: (1) a CPI for all urban consumers (CPI-U), which covers about 80% of the total population; and (2) a CPI for urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W), which covers about 32% of the total population. The CPI-U includes, in addition to wage earners and clerical workers, groups such as professional, managerial, and technical workers, the self-employed, short-term workers, the unemployed, retirees, and others not in the labor force.

The CPI is based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, and fuels; transportation fares; charges for doctors' and dentists' services; drug prices; and prices of the other goods and services bought for day-to-day living. The index currently measures price changes from a designated reference period, 1982-84, which equals 100.0. Use of this reference period began in Jan. 1988.



Consumer Price Indexes, First Half 1997
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Labor
(Data are semiannual averages of monthly figures)
CPI-U (all urban consumers) CPI-W (urban wage-earners/clerical)
(1982-84=100) 1st half 1977 % change 2d half 1996 to 1st half 1997 1st half 1977 % change 2d half 1996 to 1st half 1997
All items 159.9 1.3 157.0 1.2
Food, beverages 157.0 1.2 156.5 1.2
Housing 155.9 1.3 152.6 1.3
Apparel and upkeep 133.3 1.9 132.6 2.0
Transportation 144.7 0.6 144.1 0.3
Medical care 233.4 1.6 232.8 1.6
Entertainment 162.1 1.4 159.5 1.2
Other goods, services 221.8 1.9 218.7 2.1
Services 178.2 1.5 175.3 1.4
Special Indexes
All items less food 160.5 1.3 157.1 1.2
Commodities less food 133.8 0.8 134.0 0.8
Nondurables 146.1 1.2 145.9 1.2
Energy 111.6 0.0 111.2 –0.1
All items less energy 166.3 1.3 163.4 1.2


The World Almanac

In this section:

  1. Directories
  2. Almanacs
  3. Selected Business Periodicals
  4. Indexes and Bibliographic Sources
  5. Encyclopedias

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