It is expected that China's GDP will grow even faster in 2001 at 8.5 per cent. The country has set the middle of the century as the date for the economy to reach that of the middle tier of developed countries. According to the French cement maker Lafarge Coppee SA, concrete is second only to water as the most consumed substance on earth, with almost one ton being used each year for each human. A new survey has found that fifty-four percent of owners of small businesses in operation since at least 1995 depended on their business as the only source of income for their household. The Survey of Micro-enterprises, conducted by Statistics Canada during the summer of 2000, received responses from the majority owners of about 1,500 businesses.
Online travel is one of the fastest-growing segments of the travel industry.
There are an estimated 3.5 million seats unoccupied each week and airlines, through their websites, are hoping to generate some revenue from those previously empty seats without diminishing the sales of their full-fare tickets. Under present operations, each ship that passes through the canal requires 52 million gallons of freshwater to float it through a series of locks. Canal officials are now considering the construction of new reservoirs in the canal's western regions which would collect and store water during Panama's seven-month rainy season. In an effort to win business from trucks and rebuild credibility with customers, several major U.S. railways are launching new freight services. Some are reviving refrigerated trains for carrying fruit and vegetables.