According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the United States is home to 33.2 million small businesses. Combined, these make up 99.9% of all U.S. businesses! Here is an even more surprising fact; small businesses were responsible for 63% of all new jobs created between 1995 to 2021. We might imagine that big companies are churning out the jobs, but in reality, America is built on small companies striving to succeed! So what does it take for a small business to thrive in the United States? Many factors play a role, but as with many money matters, location is key. The team at Finfare has created this incredible index to highlight the best and worst states to start a small business. Check it out:

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We love indexes like this! They combine multiple relevant data sets to create a bigger, more insightful picture. This index includes factors such as corporate tax rate, state unemployment tax, LLC fees, average monthly commercial electric bills, minimum wage, commercial spaces for lease, and business survival rates within one year AND five years. All together, these facets create a more trustworthy outlook on the best places for small businesses. If there is a specific factor you want to know more about, there are top five lists below the main chart. I was impressed and surprised that California has a one year business survival rate of 86.8%! I figured that there would be plenty of cutthroat competition there. It drops down to 55.7% after five years, but that is still the third highest!

Who says size doesn’t matter? Certainly not the men of Sudan who were found to have the world’s largest average penis size. According to sex-toy site TooTimid.com, the average length of an erect penis in Sudan is 7.07 inches long, or 17.95 cm for our metric friends. Sudan’s impressive average length just barely beat out its neighboring country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which had a reported average penis length of 7.06 inches when erect. We have to say, with average lengths that long the banana was a great choice to represent the male member on this pretty pink graphic! If you’re wondering what the average penis size is in other countries, TooTimid put together quite the compendium of worldwide penis lengths. Their inclusive chart ranks 143 countries on the average length of an erect penis among its male citizens. In addition to erect penis sizes, they’ve even highlighted the top ten countries that were found to have the longest average flaccid penis. If you’re more interested in girth than length, the top ten lists for the countries with the largest penis circumference (both erect and flaccid) are also waiting to be discovered by you below. What about the countries with the shortest penis size? Don’t worry, the team at TooTimid covered that too! This chart of countries ranked by penis size truly has it all. How does your member measure up to the rest of the world? Check out the map of average penis sizes around the world and see for yourself!

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Can you imagine what life would be like if you could not read or write? This intriguing chart provided by USCareerInstitute.edu explores world countries with the highest and lowest literacy rates. Check it out:

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What is literacy? Here is how the National Literacy Trust describes it: “Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak, and listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world.” The global literacy rate is at 86.81%, but there over a dozen countries that under a 50% literacy rate. The United States has a literacy rate of 99%, which is actually the lowest among the top countries! There are nine countries that boast an impressive 100% literacy rate: Andorra, Finland, Greenland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Norway, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and North Korea. North Korea’s 100% ranking is suspicious, although the data comes directly from the CIA. Do you believe it?

If you want to foster literacy in your own children, here are some quick tips:

1. Start reading to your children at a young age. Incorporating reading into a child’s bedtime routine offers not only quality time together but also plants the seeds for a love of reading and learning.
2. Begin by practicing sight words. These are words that are easy to read without having to sound out the letters. This is helpful for building vocabulary and phonemic awareness.
3. Encourage children to choose their own books, even if they are just going by the pictures. This cultivates investment in reading time. Learning is easier when it is fun and children feel heard!