An increasingly number of Americans who work in the private sector are paying 50 percent or more of their health care costs.

CNN: Unions have to make concessions

But an increasingly large number of Level-two criminals are slipping through, partly because they are too large to be caught by the neighbourhood coppers and too small to interest the national agencies.

ECONOMIST: Britain's police forces are about to have a rash of mergers

The number of workers grappling with an increasingly likely nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan has been cut from 800 to 50.

FORBES: Fukushima's Last Stand: All But 50 Workers Evacuated

And if Mr Buffett is right that the price of influence is set to rise dramatically, the number of business people who turn against the system, as they are priced out of an increasingly competitive market, can only increase.

ECONOMIST: Campaign-finance reform

At the other extreme, scavenging spare computer power from personal computers on the internet is proving an increasingly effective approach for problems that can be split into a large number of small, independent parts.

ECONOMIST: Computing

Women are breadwinners in a growing number of families, and women's earnings play an increasingly important role in families' incomes.

WHITEHOUSE: Presidential Proclamation -- National Equal Pay Day, 2012

President Bongo has made a number of reforms in Gabon, and Gabon is playing an increasingly important role, as I said, in the -- as a regional and global leader.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

An increasingly bad-tempered altercation with one such customer was shared with a number of games media luminaries, most significantly Mike Krahulik of the enormously popular gaming webcomic and blog Penny Arcade.

FORBES: The Other Avenger: Ocean Marketing Files Suit Against N-Control

India also became an increasingly important exporter of Ford vehicles last year, with shipments reaching 22, 521 vehicles, almost three times the number exported in 2010.

FORBES: In India, Ford Goes On Dealership Binge