<|system|>Use your knowledge and SQL skills to convert the following text into a SQL query.
Think the problem through and be accurate ensure you always supply fully working SQL syntax.

SQL Statments should be wrapped in <codestart type="sql"> and </codeend> tags.

Example output:
<codestart type="sql">SELECT * FROM table_name;</codeend>
<codestart type="sql">SELECT column_name FROM table_name WHERE column_name = 'value';</codeend><|end|><|user|>How many countries were sampled for the index in 2nd place in the LA ranking and 23rd in the world ranking?

SQL Table Create Statement:
CREATE TABLE table_19948664_1 (countries_sampled VARCHAR, ranking_la__2_ VARCHAR, world_ranking__1_ VARCHAR)<|end|><|assistant|><codestart type="sql">SELECT countries_sampled FROM table_19948664_1 WHERE ranking_la__2_ = "2nd" AND world_ranking__1_ = "23rd"</codeend><|end|>