I love coming across unusual statistics that leave me baffled and utterly confused.
The following are some of the best and weirdest statistics that just don’t seem to make any sense at all when you read them.
20% of the World’s CCTV Cameras are in the UK
For a small speck of a country the UK sure has a helluva lot of CCTV cameras. There are apparently 5.9 million of them here, which means 1 for every 11 Brits. It is hard to get exact figures for these things but some estimates suggest that the UK has a fifth of all the world´s CCTV cameras, despite having only 1% of the planet´s population. In fact, there are more than one and a half times more cameras in the UK than in all of China.
Koalas Sleep for 22 Hours a Day
How much would I like to be a koala? Apart from being the hippest and cutest animal around I could also eat nothing but eucalyptus leaves and sleep virtually all day long. These cuddly chaps sleep for up to 22 hours a day, possibly because of the general crapiness of the eucalyptus-only diet. On the other hand, those all-action sloths only need a modest 20 hours of shut eye each day. The only problem with being is a koala would be trying to work out how best to use my 2 hours of active time every day. I wouldn´t even have time to watch a baseball game or Titanic, so it’s not all bad.
The World’s Population Grows by 140 Every Minute
If you weren’t already worried about the planet’s over-population then you will be in roughly 5 seconds. You see, there are 140 extra homo sapiens jostling for space on Earth every day. Sorry, I mean every hour. Oh hang on; those 140 new bodies are every single freaking minute. This is the difference between the number of births and deaths and it adds up to roughly 200,000 new mouths to feed and bottoms to wipe every day.
Barbie’s Vital Statistics
You’ve always wanted know what Barbie’s vital statistics would be in real life, haven’t you? If we start off by looking at her height, we can see that according to her head size she should be 7 ft 2 inches (218cm) tall. As for those vital statistics, she would be 36-13-38. Compare that to Dolly Parton’s 40-27-37.
14% of Americans Are Illiterate
Can you believe that 32 million adults in the US can’t read or write? This is the figure that came out of a 2103 study by the US Department of Education. They said that 14 million US adults were at a “below basic” level, which pretty much means that they can’t read or write in my book. Among the world’s highest literacy rates are Cuba, Estonia and Azerbaijan (all with 99.8%). Among the countries with a perfect 100% rate are Norway, Greenland, Andorra and North Korea, apparently.
The Price of Money is Half the Cost of Making It
How much does it cost the US Mint to produce new coins? Roughly twice the value of them. In the year 2013 the county lost more than $100 million on the cost of producing new money.
Hippos Kill 2,900 People a Year
The truth of the matter is that you are far more likely to be killed by a hippo than by a shark, a lion or an elephant. These beasts might look all cuddly and friendly but when it comes down to it, they are just plain old killing machines. They can shift their 8,000 pound body at 18 mph and they don’t seem to be scared of us puny humans for some reason.
