The question behind a statistic matters as much as the number in the answer.

Every number is the end of a process that began with someone deciding what to count, who to ask, and where to draw the line. Those choices are invisible in the result, which arrives looking like a fact rather than a summary of decisions. Two honest studies can produce different figures simply because they asked slightly different questions.

When a number is used to settle an argument, ask what exactly was measured and of whom. If nobody can tell you, treat it as a starting point for the conversation rather than the end of one.