Fast facts on statistics
In 1750 there were about 800 million people in the world. In 1850 there were a billion more, and by 1950, another billion. Then it took just 50 years to double to 6 billion.
Half the world’s population earns about 5% of the world’s wealth.
There are more than 600 million telephone lines, yet almost half the world’s population has never made a phone call on a land line. However, many more have made a cell phone call; there are some 4 billion cell phones in use.
More personal telephone calls are made on Mother’s Day in the USA than on any other day in any other country.
Most reverse charge calls takes place on Father’s Day.
One in ten people in the world live on an island.
The opposite sides of a dice cube always add up to seven.
If you count the seconds without stopping, it would take you eleven-and-a-half days to reach one million, and 32 years to reach one billion.
In the US, murder is committed most frequently in August and least frequently in February.
In 1870, there were more Irish living in London than in Dublin.
In 1870, there also were more Catholics living in London than in Rome.
The chance of being born on Leap Day is about 684 out of a million, or 1 in 1461. Less than 5 million people have their birthday on Leap Day.
The odds of being struck by lightning are about 600,000 to one.
About 27% of food in developed countries are wasted each year. It’s simply thrown away.
Almost 1,2 billion people are underfed – the same number of people that are overweight to the point of obesity.
The world average of egg consumption per capita is 230.
In the US, about 280 million turkeys are sold for the Thanksgiving celebrations.
Half the world’s population is under 25 years of age. 10% are over 60 years of age.
On average in the West, people move house every 7 years.
US Post Office handles 43% of the world’s mail. Its nearest competitor is Japan with 6%.
In the developed countries, the proportion of adults married has declined from 72% in 1970 to 60% in 1996. The chance of a first marriage ending in divorce is between 50% and 67%. The chance that a second marriage will end in divorce is about 10% higher than for the first marriage.
The world’s average school year is 200 days per year. In the US, it is 180 days; in Sweden 170 days, in Japan it is 243 days.
Since 1972, some 64 million tons of aluminum cans (about 3 trillion cans) have been produced. Placed end-to-end, they could stretch to the moon about a thousand times. Cans represent less than 1% of solid waste material.
More than a billion transistors are manufactured… every second.
92% of Chinese belong to the Han nationality, which has been China’s largest nationality for centuries. The rest of the nation consists of about 55 minority groups.
According to the US Census Bureau, 19% of US children live in poverty.
According to the US Weather Service, their one day forecasts are accurate more than 75% of the time. They send out 2 million forecasts a year.
There are more than 110 million sheep in Australia, a nation of 21 million people.
New Zealand is home to 4 million people and 50 million sheep.