The Amazonian rainforest covers over a billion acres; if Amazonia were a country, it would be the ninth largest in the world.
The Raintree Group

Rainforests are being destroyed at a rate of 2.47 acres per second. That translates as 78 million acres a year, or an area larger than the state of Florida.

Rainforests cover about 6% of the world's surface, but contain 50% of all the plant and animal life on earth.
Heinemann Hot Topics

One hectare (2.47 acres) of tropical rainforest may contain over 750 types of trees and 1,500 species of higher plants.
Rainforest Bioenergetics

80% of the developed worlds's diet originated in the tropical rainforest.
Rainforest Bioenergetics

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has identified 3,000 plants that are active against cancer cells. 70% of these plants are found in the rainforest.
The Raintree Group

There were an estimated ten million Indians living in the Amazonian rainforest five centuries ago. Today there are less than 200,000.
The Raintree Group

The average temperature in a rainforest is about 86 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the year, with around 80 inches of rainfall.
Heinemann Hot Topics

In Brazil, 5.4 million acres of rainforest are destroyed each year. Destroying a rainforest is not cost-effective. In the Peruvian Amazon, for example, one hectare (2.5 acres) of land can produce $6, 820 per year if intact forest is sustainably harvested for fruits, latex, timber. If clear-cut, that same hectare is worth about $1,000 and can't be used again. If cattle-grazed, it's worth about $148 per year. With rainforest destruction, an estimated 137 species of life forms are driven into extinction each day.

Many of the above facts are borrowed from the Rainforest Action Network Homepage. Check it out at www.ran.org

Also recommended for information, though we can’t vouch for their products:
The Raintree Group

Check out our list of other organizations that can help expand your knowledge of the rainforests of the world!