Last week, GlobalPost.com began to tackle the economic crisis head on with a feature series called, “A World of Trouble.” The series gives a global perspective on the crisis from over 20 correspondents around the world, and brings out some very powerful stories. It’s hard not to take notice of some of the staggering statistics they found.

65,000 – Number of Chinese factory closings in 2008 (estimated)
20 million – Number of migrant workers in China now without work
1.6 million – Japanese living on welfare, the highest number since 1965
4.4 billion – Total sales of McDonald’s Japan in 2008, the company’s best year as Japanese turned to cheaper fast food
13 – The actual length, in years, of Japan’s “Lost Decade”
3 – In a process called “cutting chai,” the number of parts into which cash-strapped Indians are dividing, and then sharing, a single order of tea
31 – Percentage of households in Brazil that have suffered a job loss in the last six months
500,000 – Number of homes for low-income residents the Brazilian government is building to stimulate the economy
129,000 – Number of jobs lost in Canada in January, the worst one-month total in decades
250 million – Size, in dollars, of Prince Edward Island’s lobster industry, now crashing

See more at GlobalPost.com.