Despite pre-election promises, funding for Gaelic broadcasting dropped in real terms during the years of the Blair government.

Continuing to reduce poverty at the rate it has been dropping during the past eight years would be a far more plausible aspiration.

The number of library cards has remained steady, Miss Brown said, but circulation has dropped by 15,000 volumes during the last 10 years.

The number of women who look forward to "marrying, having children and no career" has dropped from 38 percent to 26 percent during the last 10 years.

When Einstein began his teaching career, at the university level, his scholarly production dropped noticeably during the first three years.

He had to drop out of two movies during the two years it took him to bring "A Walk on the Moon" to the screen.

Serious crime has dropped in Brooklyn Heights during the last three years, the 84th Precinct recently reported.

Harvard's Rhodes average has dropped almost in half during the last five years, to 2.8 per year.

Following the Civil War, at age 34, Gallegos seems to have dropped into relative anonymity during the five years preceding to his death.

The reason for concern is that the white population has dropped significantly during the last 20 years, and such shifts frequently breed instability.