Truth Computing
Every figure on our By the Numbers page, its primary source, and its verification status. In June 2026 we independently rechecked each figure against its source; figures we could not substantiate were removed and are listed at the bottom for transparency. Spot an error? Email mtorre@truth-computing.com.
Last verified: June 2026
| Figure | Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 250,000 | US deaths/yr attributed to medical error | Makary & Daniel, BMJ 2016 | Contested |
| $4.5T | US healthcare spending (2022) | CMS NHE 2022 | Verified |
| $760 to 935B | Annual waste in US healthcare | JAMA, Shrank et al. 2019 | Verified |
| $265B+ | Savings from admin simplification | JAMA, Sahni et al. 2021 | Verified |
| ~$50B | AI in healthcare market, 2026 forecast | Grand View Research | Vendor forecast |
| Figure | Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| $7.5T | Daily global FX trading (Apr 2022) | BIS Triennial Survey 2022 | Verified |
| $485B | Global fraud scam & bank fraud losses (2023) | Nasdaq/Verafin 2024 | Verified (resourced) |
| $3.31B | US investment fraud losses to FBI (2022) | FBI IC3 2022 | Verified |
| $206B | Global financial crime compliance cost (2023) | LexisNexis Risk 2023 | Verified (resourced) |
| ~1.7% | Investor return gap vs. funds owned | Morningstar Mind the Gap 2023 | Verified (was 2.4%) |
| Figure | Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| $236B | Federal improper payments (FY2023) | GAO 2024 | Verified |
| $6.1T | US federal outlays (FY2023) | US Treasury Fiscal Data | Verified (was $6.3T) |
| $1.9T | Medicare + Medicaid combined spend | CMS NHE 2023 | Verified (was $1.8T) |
| ~80% | Federal IT budget spent operating existing systems | GAO-23-106821 | Verified (was “62% legacy”) |
| Figure | Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| $4.5T | Annual clean energy investment needed (net zero) | IEA Net Zero Roadmap 2023 | Scenario |
| ~75% | Share of global GHG emissions from energy | IEA | Verified (was 73%) |
| +160% | Data center power demand growth by 2030 | Goldman Sachs 2024 | Verified (was “3×”) |
| $1.8T | Global clean energy investment (2023) | BloombergNEF 2024 | Verified (link fixed) |
| Figure | Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 70% | 10 year olds in LMICs who can't read a simple text | World Bank 2022 | Verified |
| ~$7.6T | Global education market (2024) | HolonIQ 2024 | Verified (was $6T) |
| 67% | US 4th graders below NAEP Proficient in reading | NAEP 2022 | Verified (was 70%) |
| ~$1.8T | US student debt outstanding | Federal Reserve G.19 | Live series |
| ~$927B | Total US K to 12 expenditures (2020 to 21) | NCES 2024 | Verified (was $404B) |
| +75% | Lifetime earnings, bachelor's vs. HS | Georgetown CEW 2021 | Verified (was 4.4×) |
| Figure | Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 in 5 | US workplace fatalities in construction | OSHA | Verified |
| ~$13.6T | Global construction market (2023) | Statista | Aggregate estimate |
| $177B | Cost of rework/bad data, US (2018) | PlanGrid & FMI 2018 | Verified (resourced) |
| ~88% | Firms reporting difficulty filling craft roles | AGC 2023 | Verified (was 63%) |
| Figure | Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.05B t | Food wasted globally (2022); 783M hungry | UNEP 2024 | Verified (updated) |
| ~$1T | Economic value of food lost & wasted | UNFCCC / FAO | Verified (link fixed) |
| 8 to 10% | Global GHG emissions from food loss/waste | UNEP 2021 | Verified |
| 30 to 40% | Share of US food supply wasted | USDA | Verified (was 40%) |
| $325B | Value of US food wasted (2024) | ReFED 2025 | Verified |
| Figure | Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ~1.4M | Fires reported/yr (~523K structure) | NFPA Fire Loss | Verified (label fixed) |
| ~$18B | Annual US fire property loss (2022) | NFPA Fire Loss 2022 | Verified (was $21.9B) |
| ~$54B | US local fire protection spending (2019) | NFPA FD Profile | Verified (was $31B) |
| 96 | Firefighter on duty deaths (2022) | NFPA / USFA 2022 | Verified (was 136) |
| 64% | US fire departments all volunteer | NFPA FD Profile | Verified (was 58%) |
| $7.6 to 62.8B | Estimated annual national wildfire cost | NIST 2017 | Verified (rescoped) |
| ~36M | Total fire dept incidents/yr | NFPA FD Profile | Verified (was 4.2M) |
| Figure | Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ~$115B | State/local police protection spending (2017) | BJS 2017 | Verified (link/date fixed) |
| ~58% | 911 calls not about crime in progress | Vera Institute | Verified (resourced) |
| $3.2B | Misconduct settlements, 10 yrs / 25 depts | Washington Post 2022 | Verified (not annual) |
| ~18,000 | State/local law enforcement agencies | BJS 2018 | Verified |
| ~7.4M | US arrests/yr (2022) | FBI Crime Data Explorer | Verified (was 10M+) |
| Figure | Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 771,480 | People homeless on a single night (Jan 2024) | HUD 2024 AHAR | Verified (updated) |
| 152,585 | Chronically homeless individuals (2024) | HUD 2024 AHAR | Verified (updated) |
| ~56% | Increase in unsheltered homelessness since 2015 | HUD AHAR (2015 & 2024) | Verified (was 30%) |
| Figure | Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.8M | Dogs/cats entering shelters & rescues (2024) | ASPCA 2024 | Verified |
| ~607,000 | Animals euthanized/yr (2024) | ASPCA 2024 | Verified |
| 22% | Adopted dogs returned in 3 mo (one shelter) | Powell et al., Animals 2022 | Verified (was 23%/6mo, dead link) |
| ~4,000+ | US animal shelters | Shelter Animals Count 2025 | Verified (was 3,500) |
| Figure | Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| $620B | Global staffing market size (2024) | Staffing Industry Analysts 2025 | Verified (date fixed) |
| $1.1T | US cost of inefficient transitions/skills gaps | Pearson 2025 | Verified (resourced; US) |
| ~11M | People employed via US staffing agencies (2024) | American Staffing Association | Verified |
| ~7.5M | US job openings (recent monthly avg) | BLS JOLTS | Live series |
| Figure | Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.3M | Youth 16 to 24 not in school or work (2022) | Measure of America 2024 | Verified (reattributed) |
| ~$16,280 | Per pupil US public school spending (2020 to 21) | NCES 2024 | Verified (was $13,187) |
| ~31% | First year undergrads taking remedial courses | NCES Table 311.40 | Verified (was 40%) |
| ~26% | US students chronically absent (2022 to 23) | NCES | All grades |
| 81% / 87% | Grad rate: econ disadvantaged vs. all (2021 to 22) | NCES Table 219.46 | Verified (replaced 16% claim) |
| $300K+ | Lifetime premium, HS diploma vs. none | Georgetown CEW 2021 | Verified |
| ~3.7M | US high school graduates/yr | NCES Table 219.10 | Verified (was 3.8M) |
These figures were on an earlier version of the page. During verification we could not confirm them against a primary source (or the cited source did not support the stated figure), so we removed them rather than leave them up.
| Figure | Claim | Why removed |
|---|---|---|
| 30% | Clinical decisions made with incomplete information | No primary source supports the figure as stated. |
| 11 min | Physician time per visit | Cited the wrong study; US visit length is ~18 to 20 min. |
| 80% | Equity trading that is algorithmic | No citable primary source for the figure. |
| 42% | Execs citing data quality as top AI barrier | Not found in the cited Deloitte source. |
| 80% | Government data “unstructured and unvalidated” | Not a government specific or sourced figure. |
| 18 mo | Policy to data lag | No source; cited link was dead. |
| $4.7B | Federal AI investment (2024) | Cited a homepage; figure unverifiable. |
| $270B | US grid inefficiency losses | Not supported by any source located. |
| 58% | Utility execs citing AI reliability | Not found in the cited Deloitte source. |
| 40% | Clean energy projects with 3 to 5 yr permitting delay | Not supported by the cited source. |
| 31% | Projects on time and on budget | Figure unverifiable against KPMG primary material. |
| 13% | Work hours lost to rework | No traceable FMI source. |
| 58% | Food waste at retail/consumer stages | Not supported by the cited NRDC report. |
| $37B | US food redistribution opportunity | Not found at the cited source. |
| 37% | Officer time on admin tasks | No source; cited link was dead. |
| 240% | Increase in mental health calls since 2010 | No source could be located. |
| $44,000 | Annual cost per person experiencing homelessness | Not supported by the cited source. |
| 70% | Homeless individuals with unmet mental health needs | Sensitive claim not supported by the cited source. |
| $2.1B | Emergency shelter spending | Not reported in the cited HUD PIT source. |
| 3× | Higher return to homelessness without services | No confirmable source. |
| $2B+ | US animal sheltering expenditure | Not in the cited ASPCA source. |
| $1,200 | Shelter cost per animal | Not in the cited source; conflicts with available data. |
| 50% | Euthanasia reduction with predictive placement | Dead link; no study supports the figure. |
| 46% | Placements turning over within 6 months | Not found at the cited source. |
| $25,000 | Cost of a failed placement | No matching SHRM figure (cost per hire is ~$4,700). |
| 72% | Hiring managers saying AI improves placement speed | Not found at the cited source. |
| 16% | Grad rate gap by income quartile | Cited a race based source; replaced with a sourced income figure. |
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