Guess what? We are all preoccupied with numbers these days. Consider the numbers in these subjects: reports on investments, gasoline prices, rising costs for food and utilities, as well as metrics for one’s age, weight, cholesterol counts, blood pressure, A1C, PSA, etc. There are also competitive numbers for bridge, tennis, golf and pickleball, to name a few. Additionally, there are numbers for games in professional sports. To spice things up, we resort to numbers to track appointments, our arrival and departure times for trips, telephone numbers, addresses, device passwords, baking measurements, baking times and calculating tips in restaurants. Literally, there is no end to the times we resort to numbers on any given day. That being said, here are some compelling numbers that may surprise you!
- $7.2 million – The amount the U.S. paid Russia for Alaska in 1867.
- 116 – The age of the oldest person currently living.
- 58 – Richard Burton’s age at the time of his untimely death.
- 470,000 – The number of words in Webster’s Unabridged Third New International Dictionary.
- 268,246 – The number of movies made in the U.S. from 1888 to 2017.
- ~463,000 – The number of cups of coffee consumed each day in the U.S.
- 2.9 million – The number of passengers who fly each day in the U.S.
- 98% - The percentage of the U.S. population who own cell phones.
- 100,000 – The average number of hairs on one’s head, if not bald (this number varies by hair color).
- ~50% - The percentage of women in the U.S. who are on a diet, on any given day.
- 105 billion – The number of eggs produced each year in the U.S.
- ~16.5 million – The number of vegetarians in the U.S.
- 3,365 miles – The longest route (route 20) in the U.S.
- 2.67 billion – The number of bedding and garden plants purchased each year in the U.S.
- 71.7 million – The number of college graduates in the U.S.
- 108 – The number of floors The Willis Tower has (in Chicago).
- 1.23 billion – The number of ice cream and frozen desserts consumed annually in the U.S.
- $39.74 trillion – The U.S. national debt – the interest is about $3 billion per day.
- 1.85 billion – The number of pounds of potato chips consumed each year in the U.S.
- 35,000 – The number of museums and cultural centers in the U.S.
- 140 million – The number of Nike shoes sold in the U.S. annually.
- 39 billion – The number of martinis that are consumed annually benefiting the U.S. bar industry.
- ~1 billion – The number of books purchased each year in the U.S.
- ~43 million – The number of left-handed people in the U.S.
- 6,700 – The number of print newspapers in the U.S.
- 745 million – The number of pounds of candy consumed during Halloween each year in the U.S.
- 47 million – The number of Americans who, annually, live in food insecure households (lack of food).
- 1,011 – The number of casinos in the U.S., across 46 states.
- 4,500 to 7,000 – The number of farms and ranches with cattle in Arizona.
- ? – The number of people who will say WOW after reading this!
