question:  how many countries sampled with year of publication being 2007 and ranking l.a. (2) being 7th
answer: SELECT COUNT(countries_sampled) FROM table_12000368_1 WHERE year_of_publication = "2007" AND ranking_la__2_ = "7th"
context: CREATE TABLE table_12000368_1 (countries_sampled VARCHAR, year_of_publication VARCHAR, ranking_la__2_ VARCHAR)