Earth’s Population Statistics in Perspective
The population of Earth is around 7.8 billion. To most people that is an overwhelming figure. However, if you condensed 7.8 billion into 100 persons, and then into various percentage statistics, the resulting analysis is relatively much easier to comprehend.
Out of 100
- 11 are in Europe
- 5 are in North America
- 9 are in South America
- 15 are in Africa
- 60 are in Asia
49 live in the countryside / 51 live in cities
75 have mobile phones / 25 do not
30 have internet access / 70 do not have the availability to go online
7 received a university education / 93 did not attend college
83 can read / 17 are illiterate
33 are Christians / 22 are Muslims / 14 are Hindus / 7 are Buddhists
12 are others religions / 12 have no religious beliefs
26 live less than 14 years / 66 die between 15-64 of age / 8 are over 65 years old
If you have your own home, eat full meals, drink clean water, have a mobile phone, can use the internet, attend college, you are in the minuscule privileged lot. Less than 8%. [Times-Gazette Hillsboro, Ohio]
“If you don’t know a handful of women who’ve had an abortion, you’re not morally righteous or statistically anomalous; you’re just not the kind of person women trust with their secrets.” Emily Porter, MD
Around a quarter of U.S. adults (23%) use Twitter, according to our early 2021 survey. [Pew Research Center]
Facebook has 23 times the annual revenue of Twitter and nearly two billion daily users to Twitter’s 217 million. [NYT 4/24/22]
The average American spent 23 minutes per day reading in 2004. In 2019, that number had declined to just 16 minutes per day.
The sale of printed books rose from 580 million in 2012 to 826 million in 2021. [statista.com 4/22/22] [Thanks to Jay Berman.]
Odds and Ends
In 2016, 9% of marriages involved couples from opposite political parties, according to the Institute for Family Studies; by 2020, that had slid to just 4%.
[NYT 5/7/22]
Here are some ways to practice amazing grace at work:
- Assume positive intent
- Just ask
- When shit happens, shine – and swarm
- Words matter
- Say it don’t write it
[Jim at Axios]
If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.
It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
The average person’s left hand does 56% of the typing.
The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?