Absolutely Insane Statistics 📈

Statistics you probably haven't thought about, but definitely should 📊

Yep, it’s that time of week again - Fun Friday! 🤭 I’m super pumped for this week’s post. I spent some time combing the internet for mind-blowing statistics that you’ve probably never heard of before, but should definitely know. I was an economics minor in college, but after doing this research, I discovered that I apparently learned nothing important about the economy. This is the mind-blowing info that would’ve made me study harder. Buckle up!

The whole idea for this post was sparked as I sat working in a coffee shop (which I do far too often… if that’s even possible). I know that the coffee shop phenomenon has really boomed, by which I mean coffee shops have skyrocketed in popularity and seem to be opening up left and right. So I googled the statistics. Currently, there are over 40,000 coffee shops in the U.S. alone! The value of the world coffee market has surged to almost $126 billion. I found this so interesting that, instead of writing my novel, I of course went down a rabbit hole and started researching statistics that I thought my Substack readers (hey, that’s you!) might find interesting. This post is the result.

Photo by Clifford on Unsplash

Here’s some crazy stuff I learned:

1. The Economic Times reports that the illegal drug market is estimated to be worth around $650 billion. But what’s wild is that this is small when compared to the United States’s national debt, which currently lies at over $35 trillion. That means the value of the country’s national debt is worth over 53 times the global illegal drug market. Wow!

2. Did you know the average American spends over $11,000 on toilet paper in their lifetime? While I found this statistic in multiple places, I’m citing The New York Post here because of the crazy list at the bottom of the article detailing how much we spend on a variety of single-use goods. For instance, they report that we each spend over $10,000 on paper towels, $9,000 in tissues, and $8,000 in disposable razors! Add up just those four (which aren’t even half of the big-ticket items on their list), and you’ve got an annual salary for a full-time job.

3. In May 2022, CNBC reported that American households were spending the equivalent of $5,000 annually on gasoline. While that seems like a lot, what’s even crazier is that Americans were spending an average of just $2,800 only one year prior. That’s almost double the spending in just one year’s time!

4. In the past 5 years, rent has grown faster than wages in 44 out of the 50 largest American metros. NYC has had the harshest experience with this, with rent prices increasing 7 times faster than wages in 2023 alone. This is reported by a few sources, but StreetEasy provides the most straightforward list. So, I guess it’s not a great time to rent (although there is currently a small decrease in rental prices in some cities)… Butttt it’s not a great time to buy a home, either, so… yeah. 😢

5. According to Exploding Topics, social media users globally will spend more than 4 trillion hours on platforms this year alone. This does not include the time people will spend watching shows/movies on streaming services or on mobile gaming. An average 79-year lifespan is composed of 692,040 hours. That means that humans will spend a total of 4 trillion/692,040 = 5,780,012.7 lifetimes on social media this year. Over 5.7 million lifetimes on social media. In one year. Let that sink in.

   

   Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

That’s it, folks. Sorry if I heightened your anxiety today, but it had to be done. Albeit stress-inducing, these are stats I feel like you should know so that you can take them into consideration when making decisions this year.

What’s a crazy statistic you’ve learned? Share it with me in the comments - I’d love to hear from you! ❤️