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News – 2 out of three people are concerned about chemicals

From Mainichi Shinbun:

http://mainichi.jp/select/science/news/20100906ddm016040018000c.html

化学物質:　「不安」3人に2人

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化学 – かがく – chemistry
物質 – ぶっしつ – material, substance
化学物質 – かがくぶっしつ – chemical substance, chemicals

不安 – ふあん – worried, concerned

3人に2人 – さんにんにににん – two out of three people

This headline confused me briefly, but then I remembered that Japanese fractions are “upside down” to fractions in English.
Where in English we would say:
“three fourths”
in Japanese it would be
4分の3

English states the numerator first, but the denominator is stated first in Japanese. The same principle applies for 3人に2人, with the quantity of elements of the set stated before the elements exhibiting the property of interest.

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Translation:
2 Out of 3 People are Concerned About Chemicals

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