30 Weird, Fascinating, And Disturbing Statistics About Pretty Much Everything (New Answers)
Ah, statistics. In high school, that was one of the most dreaded classes everyone tried hard to avoid. Despite how useful the course was, it just didn’t appeal to our picky teenage taste. Thankfully, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to really appreciate statistics for how much they teach us about our world. Clearly, I’m not alone either.
Earlier this week, Reddit user Foundation_james reached out asking for the most interesting statistics people know, and the post received thousands of responses. We’ve gathered some of the most fascinating statistics people shared, so you can read them below and add them to your list of go-to fun facts. Be sure to upvote all of your favorite stats, and then if you’re looking to learn even more from Bored Panda, we recommend checking out this piece next.
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Of the 30 fastest 100 meter sprint times, 21 were run by athletes who tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.
The other 9 were Usain Bolt.
Statistics are more prevalent in our day to day lives than many of us even realize. Every time we check the weather before deciding what to wear in the morning, we’re relying on statistics. When our insurance company informs us of the rates we’re going to be charged, they’ve determined those numbers based on stats of all the drivers and homeowners in our area. When a friend offers us a cigarette at a party, we may politely decline because it’s hard to ignore the statistics about cancer rates linked to smoking.
The field of statistics is the science of learning from data, and without an understanding of it, we would have a very difficult time making decisions. When preparing for emergencies, for example, we can assess the risks based on statistics. How often do hurricanes occur in this area? How likely is one to occur within the next week? When a hurricane does hit, how devastating is it expected to be? The National Hurricane Center uses various statistical models "based on historical relationships between hurricane-specific information, such as the location and time of year, and the behavior of historical hurricanes" to predict future storms. These stats are incredibly important in keeping citizens safe and minimizing destruction from hurricanes.
There have been 288 mass shootings at schools since 2009 in the USA. The country with the next highest amount has………….. 8. To be clear they have 2.7% of the mass shootings at school that we do.
Which does not count Pulse in Orlando, the Vegas Strip shooting, etc.
34 percent of adults and 75 percent of children sleep with a stuffed animal or a blanket, or other sentimental object as their comfort object.
Statistics also play a huge role in political campaigns. We can predict the outcome of elections by using data about an area from past elections and by polling individuals during a campaign to see where they are leaning. Politicians running for office use this data to decide where to focus their energy as well. If a county has voted Republican in every presidential election for the past 20 years, they are likely to vote the same way in the future, regardless of how many rallies are held there.
Statistics have also been incredibly important to governments in combating the Covid-19 pandemic. Decisions about lockdowns, restrictions, mask mandates and vaccine requirements have all been made based on illness and death rates over time. It would have been very difficult for governments to determine a course of action in fighting Covid without proof of how it’s spreading and where.
Despite making up less than 4% of the population, Americans produce over 20% of the garbage in the world.
Less than 10% of Americans do not wear seatbelts and account for 51% of car related fatalities.
Wear your seatbelt. Ignore your friend who told you "My buddy's cousin would've died if he was wearing his seatbelt!"
48% of British people wouldn’t go to space even if their safety was guaranteed with the most popular reason being that they just simply didn’t have any interest in going
Statistics also benefit us when we’re doing our weekly grocery shop. Stores use the data they collect on what products are being purchased the most frequently to decide how much to order. This is particularly important for items that become more popular in specific seasons, such as sunscreen in the summer months and hot chocolate in the winter. And if you want to determine the best time to go grocery shopping to avoid crowds, the stats will tell you to go on Mondays and Tuesdays. Skip shopping on Saturdays and Sundays, especially between 11am-12pm, as shoppers spend an average of 7 more minutes in stores on weekends due to crowds.
Dragonflies have a 95% hunt success rate. Making them the most effective hunters in the world.
Statistics can also be exciting when learning about topics we’re passionate about, like sports. Data analytics have become extremely important in the world of professional sports for team strategies and for the enjoyment of fans. It wasn’t until 2002, however, that sports analytics really started to take off. The catalyst was Billy Beane, who was general manager of the Oakland Athletics at the time, using statistical analysis to curate a powerful team of lesser-known baseball players. After the Athletics almost won the World Series, Beane’s strategy, which came to be known as “Moneyball”, quickly became the norm for other teams as well and even inspired a 2011 film starring Brad Pitt.
Innocent people will admit to a crime they never committed 43% of the time.
Communism has worked 0% of the times it was tried.
Has communism really been tried? As opposed to some dictatorship under the guise of communism?
Not really. Under the ideas of Marx, communism is a state of affairs in which there are no social classes, money, or the state. He believed that the workers should take control of the state through self-ownership (later in his life, Marx, as well as Engels, believed that communism could be achieved through elections in places such as the U.S. or Britain). In time, the state would wither away, and no longer exist. The style of Marxism that dominated in all of these communist countries is that of Leninism, or it's more conservative variant, Stalinism. These two schools of thought were based on violent revolution, the concentration of power in the State, and a general mistrust of the general population (which is why there needed to be a "vanguard"), a far cry from what Marx and Engels envisioned. If what they envisioned is completely feasible is another matter entirely.
Load More Replies...Two reasons for this: (1) Communism has never really been tried. (2) Communism is not a valid form of government, since communism specifically repudiates the right of the State to even exist. (Bonus: No, China isn't communist any more than Russia is socialist.)
No 'pure' doctrine works. And the reason for it is that human nature intervenes. Capitalism doesn't work as capitalism is NOT used in any country. For example, the 'invisible hand' is always helped or stayed by corporate intervention or government intervention. Ideologies just fail in different directions..
No pure form exists because none of them take into consideration 'human nature'. Aspects such as greed, crime, jealousy, fear, stubbornness, desire, and etc. are never factored in.
Load More Replies...Ok I’m gonna let my anarcho-syndicalist flag fly rn but ANY hierarchy is prone to corruption and rewards psychopaths. Communism fails for the same reasons capitalism fails.
Load More Replies...Actually despite the interpretations of communism that always carry the culture and expectations of the system it replaces, there have been instances when communism not only worked but was absolutely necessary. In periods of extreme stress, famine and war when the ruling class abdicates its responsibility to actually rule effectively then collective action is the only way to save the society.
You have a point, but in such circumstances people are likely to be more co-operative and less competitive . But under normal non-life threatening circumstances people are too greedy and power hungry for communism to ever work.
Load More Replies...Democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried
Communism sounds good on paper, with everyone being the same. It sounds like it would eradicate poverty and hunger, but then everyone gets peanuts and it crashes and burns.
The economist John Kenneth Gailbraith said, "Under communism, man exploits man. But under capitalism, it's the other way around."
I love it when complex socioeconomic system are reduced to bumper stickers or fortune cookies platitudes. I am not a communist, but I have studied it, as I did several other theoretical economic systems. By that metric, none of them worked as advertised. How's the "trickle down economics going for you all? Is it trickling? Or is there a vast chasm between the working poor and the rich?
Trickle down economics isn't the same as pure capitalism, though. It's actually welfare for the rich. So I kind of consider it a perversion of capitalism. My personal preference though, is a mixed economy.
Load More Replies...Communism is a good idea, but it doesn't work because people want to have things for themselves. Capitalism is a bad idea, unfortunately it works, for a minority of the people, all others will get poorer and poorer.
I wonder if alternative notion "real fascism has not really being tried" was put for debate as well. Like "real fascism is ok, German nazzis just distorted fascism, went a wrong direction, like Italians did too. Thus true Fascism is about people, unity bluh bluh". How would you react to statements like that? In terms of casualties communism is far far ahead leaving Nazis far behind. How many victims is enough for communism sympathizers? I'd say 100 million might be a bit too much already, don't you think? If you do not think >100 mm victims is pretty enough, you might have a distorted view of the world. What must happen in empty heads of 'knownothings' saying "actual communism has not been tried". Pity and pathetic.
I think the Cubans might disagree with you there. *sits and waits for the American propaganda swallowers to jump in feet first*
Are we talking about the Cubans who are still trying to find a way out of Cuba to America or the thousands upon thousands who have successfully escaped? Clearly, they all loved how communism was working for them. Don't know many Americans risking their lives on dinghies to escape the horrors of capitalism for the shining shores of Havana. Maybe I missed that news reel amongst all the American propaganda I've been ingesting.
Load More Replies...No political theory has been tried in its "pure" form because people are selfish a******s. It's just the way we are.
True Christianity would work on the principles of communism, so I guess it has worked in some monasteries and cloistered convents.
How long does a governing system need to run to be defind as "it worked"? If it's forever then none of them "work".
It works on a smaller scale more easily. Also needs a way to remove people abusing the public trust.
Depends on what your criteria for working is. Communists eradicated illiteracy.
This is not true. Kerala, India is an example of very successful communism. Let's not forget that unions and national health care are communist ideas that are working.
Communism and capitalism are theoretical. In practice, neither has been well executed. Most successful societies operate somewhere in the middle.
As far as I'm concerned...while no form of government is perfect, humans are nothing more than greedy, controlling, bast-ards.
Ever since the day the workers formed the Soviets in Petrograd, Capital in every land has trembled to the name. But the truth is that the Stalinists have fostered a bureaucracy and since that day the Communists have never been the same.
Read Nathaniel. It has never been totally tried. There has always been a greedy, dictatorial leader. That is NOT communism.
Then why does the whole world want to live in the United States? if Capitalism is soo bad?
When the hell was Communism ever tried? Keeping entire nations at just above poverty level while the politicians get richer and richer is NOT Communism.
Oh, please -- what a stupid meme. No 2 people reading this would probably agree on what "worked" means, much less "communism." This is designed to provoke heat, not light -- pushing somebody's political agenda instead of actually helping spread knowledge.
What does "worked" mean? Every single time a communist or a socialist state had been established, it was under attack by western powers either by direct military intervention, economical sanctions or embargoes, purposeful sponsorship of of rival states like West Germany and South Korea and covert operations to generate propaganda and government mistrust, sabotage key economic factors like burning agricultural fielda in Cuba or paying truck drivers to go on strike in Chile, or aiding and organizing government overthows. If communism doesn't work, then why do we need to ruthlessly kill it in its crib every time it manifests? Socialist become authoritarian and spy on their citizens because they don't want to be silenced, overthrown or killed by western agents. But they also take empoverished nations and improve their living standarts, offer free healthcare, education, housing, job security and food (most of the time) to the people. Why does no one mention that when they say they haven't"?
Well that’s a massive lie. The first Marxist communist government was democratically elected to govern in Kerala, a state in India, in the late 1940s and only lost power a few decades ago. Kerala became one of the wealthiest Indian states with low rates of poverty and a state funded health and education system.
But true democratic socialism has worked nearly every time, if not every time, it has been tried.
This is capitalist nonsense. If you want to go by length of time and examples, feudalism is the most successful governance method in history.
Marxism is a Utopian ideal. It's great on paper. A good friend of mine is a devout Marxist for his own personal life. Works well for him. He is the first one to tell you that Communism is like any other Utopian concept or religion. Yes, Communism is also called the "Socialist Faith". The biggest problem is humans. Human beings suck. It looks perfect but somebody always demands more food, more space, more things, or to rule over others. Communism will work when all humans are gone.
Graz, City in Austria, had the communist party as junior-partner in the cities government-coalition for 20 years, before the conservative senior-partner choose a right-wing junior partner because of the success the communist run departments had, which led to continous gains during each election cycle for the communist party. The next election the communist party crushed the others, because the conservative-right coalition was corrupt (which was uncovered). And now they rule together with the social-democrat party as junior-partner. They made affordable housing, successful enviromental policies, listen to experts instead of lobbies and every official in the party only keeps a fraction of their monthly salary (about 2.000 Euro of their 7.000-12.000 Euro salary they are entitled to per law) and support families in need with the rest. So. It works if done correctly.
I can't tell whether you are being sarcastic, but the fact is that China really isn't a communist country, even though the communist party is dominant there. And the main reason why they have done so well is US manufacturing moving over there plus US trade.
Load More Replies...Democracy works way better than fascism or communism. And socialism can be run under a democratic framework.
Load More Replies...From each according to his savings. To each according to his willingness to wait in line at the market .
Mormons in early days had a communistic system that worked for them, as have other VERY small groups. Everyone has to consent.
I wonder how many of those are actual communistic systems and how many are actually traditional economies ran via a council? But it's true any system can be ran if the group is small enough and everyone agrees to follow it and self police.
Load More Replies...Communism isn’t really compatible with humans. With people it’s always been, for the most part, every man for himself. What you can get your hands on, you keep. We’re kind of selfish that way, no? Communism, with everyone getting an equal share no matter what, just doesn’t fit into what we’ve always done as a species. I’m curious to see what other people think about this!
I agree. And the fact is that there is no way to ensure equality anyway. Those who are in power are going to have more, regardless. It is true however, that some small groups have had a communistic type system. I am talking about some tribal systems. But that is often because they are in basically survival mode, where they have to depend on each other. Contrast that with many structured communes, where the person in control ends up with the wealth of the community, even though supposedly it was supposed to be shared by all.
Load More Replies...The Soviet Union, Cuba, North Korea, Romania, East Germany, etc...
They got someone into orbit a lot sooner than anyone else. 60% of Russians want to go back to communism.
Let's not also forget how little freedom they had. Unfortunately they have been regressing in that regard lately. I guess to you that is an improvement?
Load More Replies...I wish author of this share with us formula with which this percentage has been calculated. I lived in system you would call communism, we called it socialism, and very much disagree with this statement, or rather claim that statement is stupid.
Socialism isn't the same as communism. Socialism allows for individuals to make choices on their pursuits. They just have to make sure to pay their taxes from whatever they choose to do so that the government can provide all the social safety nets like healthcare. With communism, you are told what you are going to do to provide for the collective good. You don't get to accrue personal wealth, as there is no such thing as "private wealth." You don't get to follow your passion or make your own decision as to what career you want to pursue. You are told what you will do, you will do your job, and you will be given equal compensation to what every other person receives, regardless of whether you are the traffic cop or the grocery clerk or the heart surgeon. You ask do your job and the government decides what you are allowed to receive.
Load More Replies...I don’t know if it is a good system or not (human greed needs to be baked in), but I wonder if communism has EVER been tried in good faith, rather than a dictatorship/authoritarian regime CALLING themselves communism. In that case, communism has been tried zero times, so it is impossible to tell whether it would work. In my experience, “Pure” ANYTHING works 0% of the time, be it unfettered capitalism, authoritarian dictatorship, or straight communism. It may work for the “minority beneficiary” for a time, but if there is a “minority beneficiary”, then it is not communism. I’d be willing to say communism is a theory that has neither been tried in good faith, nor would work in it’s pure self. That’s not to say that some communistic ideas don’t have merit, or could work on some scope.
Communism is literally the disappearance of the State, when was this ever been implemented? :O
Communism has never existed without a large opposing force (USA) putting sanctions on it, effectively crippling it. Without that, it might work just fine.
Yes, looking at Cuba and how, despite the American embargo, they are doing quite well. One of the best healthcare in the world, one of the most educated people as well.
Load More Replies...Communism has worked fine in thousands of monasteries for thousands of years....
On the other hand, democratic socialism has worked 100% of the times it has been tried.
At the end, communists quickly turn into capitalists when there's money to be make.
Nope. We don't believe in communism, despite what FOX "news" may tell you. But a small wing (progressives) do believe in European style socialism. Perhaps that is what you are thinking of. But that isn't the same as communism.
Load More Replies...yeap, and see capitalism at its best. No wars, no homelessness, no crime, no enslavement of entire countries and making their people working for $2 a day, no destruction of the planet for its resources! And of course, everytime that a socialist/communist government was elected in a country, RANDOMLY after max one year, there would be a weirdly financed military coop that would place a american friendly capitalist party on top. Capitalism is obviously WORKING in perfection
I guess the downvoters estimate that (roughly) 100 millions dead people are acceptable.
Load More Replies...If i remember correctly, communism is just the sharing of everything with everyone, how can this not work
greed. Let's suppose all car factories are state-owned. You are allocated a Lada Niva by comrade KarManufakturski. You drive your Lada home. Another comrade comes to your house and demands the key. We are all owners of the car, so you can't refuse. Result ? you have a fight. Human beings are basically monkeys with language. Till we understand and accept that, we cannot have a utopia. It has to be crafted around the assumption that humans are greedy, selfish, stupid and lazy, BUT that they can be motivated eg by reward systems. This is what underlies e.g. china's social credit score system.
Load More Replies...it wasn't socialism, it was cryptofacist oligarchy. Jesus get it right. Socialism is what they have in scandinavia.
Load More Replies...According to a report from Research and Markets, the global sports analytics industry is expected to reach $3.4 billion by 2028. Part of the reason for this is the speed at which analytics technology has evolved. Companies like Genius Sports, for example, are able to “generate statistical breakdowns from video footage to help coaches optimize their play calling during games or generate post-game takeaways”. Cameras are also used by many companies to track player movement, ball speeds and more. But it’s not only the teams who benefit from this data. Fans use these statistics to create their fantasy league teams and place bets on who will win games.
20% of the mammal species on our planet are different types of bats.
There's about 5000 species of mammals, and about 1000 of them are varieties of our little winged buddies.
Brazil is the country that kills the most trans women per year.
Brazil is also the country where the porn category with the most viewers is the one with trans women.
No matter what your favorite sport is, I’m sure you can find a high-tech analytics company that’s pumping out fascinating data about your favorite athletes. For example, Trace in Austin, Texas, uses recording gear and an AI system to analyze film from soccer games, so coaches and players don’t have to. Players wear tracking devices that record their games, and an AI bot stitches together clips of all of the most important moments. Trace also notes performance metrics including minutes played, distance ran, top speed, max efforts, and stamina, and creates a heat map tracking where players spent most of their time during a game. Technology like this saves coaches time and helps them create more effective strategies for future games.
Survey of Fortune 500 executives found that 93% agree the golf reflects life.
86% admit to cheating at golf.
There are more privately owned guns than people in the U.S. (Washington Post June 19, 2018)
That belly button bacteria study was wild. 60 belly buttons sampled. 2368 different species of bacteria found. The study indicated that 1458 of them may be new to science. One had a rare bacteria found in Japanese soil and they had never been to Japan. Two had rare bacteria that thrived on ice caps and thermal vents. Not a single bacteria was common to all buttons.
When it comes to statistical analysis, there are 7 key types: descriptive, inferential, predictive, prescriptive, exploratory, causal and mechanistic. Each type serves a slightly different purpose, but they all help the world go round. Descriptive statistics, for example, deal with “organizing and summarizing data using numbers and graphs”. Using visual aids like graphs and tables is an efficient way to convey information because it's more palatable for the general population. These are often used in news articles to simplify complex data. As the name suggests, inferential statistics allow us to infer generalizations about data and “make conclusions with respect to future outcomes” by testing hypotheses. This method often uses the sampling theory, various tests of significance and statistical control.
The leading cause of death for ages 5 to 18 (correction 1 through 18) has recently switched from car crashes to gun violence in the US.
Your school age child is more likely to die from gun violence than any other cause, including car crashes. 21% gun violence, 20% car crashes.
(Edit: Seeing as rates of gun violence for 1 to 4 year olds is exceedingly low (accidental deaths are a different category), the picture for 5 to 18 year olds is likely higher than 21%)
70% of the german population believe that their ancestors during WW2 helped jewish escapees or didn't support/partake in the actions performed by the nazis.
Predictive analysis is also pretty self-explanatory, as it is used to make predictions about future events based on “current and past facts and figures". We rely on predictive analysis for weather forecasts, and many businesses including marketing companies, insurance companies, financial corporations and online service providers use predictive analysis to gain competitive advantages. Conversely, prescriptive analysis uses data to determine the best reaction to a situation. It relies on several techniques including simulation, graph analysis, algorithms, complex event processing and more.
Chopping wood for an hour results in a 48% increase in testosterone in men.
You have far more chances to die from a a coconut fall than by a shark attack
A full 6 percent of Americans reckon they could beat a grizzly bear in unarmed combat.
Edit: And before another bear arm joke, just fyi bears already don’t have arms. So removing bear arms doesn’t improve your chances. Technically, all four are legs, with the front two called forelegs.
Exploratory analysis is generally “the first step of the data analysis process that is conducted prior to any other statistical analysis techniques”. It is not the sole method for predicting or drawing conclusions, but it provides a preview of data and can give valuable insight. Causal analysis is used to understand the reason behind why events occur. For example, it can be used by businesses to trace what went wrong in a failed experiment or by IT companies to check the quality assurance of their software. Lastly, mechanistic analysis is the least common type and is used to “understand the definite changes that could make changes in other variables”. For example, it is used in biological sciences "when studying and inspecting how various parts of the virus are affected by making changes in medicine".
The Birthday Paradox:
It only takes 23 people in the same room for there to be a 50% chance two of them share the same birthday.
Difference between a million and a billion. When put in perspective by units of time, one million seconds is 12 days, one billion seconds is 31 years.
I hope this list is showing you how interesting random statistics about our world can be. I'm thankful for all of the curious statisticians who did the work to figure out these facts and all of the Reddit users who were able to share them with us. Don't forget to upvote all of your favorites, and then let us know in the comments what the most interesting statistic you know is!
If you made $295,000 every single day since the birth of Christ, you still wouldn't be worth what Elon Musk is.
Edit: Let's put the same concept into seconds. If you were to do a conversion of dollars to seconds ($1 = 1 second), the median American gets 1 day and 10 hours (net worth of $121,760).
Elon musk would get 6,910 YEARS.
The job with the highest death rate historically in the US is President
Edit: I didn’t factor in lifetime appointments, so technically I was wrong if you count that
Some of these stats felt really fake, and not just the ones that said things like “67% of statistics are made up on the spot” EDIT: now that I think about it, maybe that stat is true
im so over being a part of a world that now says unalived because the word dead is so....what? scary? offensive? wtf is wrong with people!!!
Whew! Rough day at work, today. I'm unalive tired.
Load More Replies...Statistically speaking, the miracles of coincidence are bound to happen. It is so certain that they will happen till we can say that the greatest miracle of all is when there is no coincidence ever happening at all.
Yes, it's often said that truth can be stranger than fiction. Events happen in real life that are so strange that if you used them in a fictional story people would say, "That could never happen!"
Load More Replies...CITE YOUR SOURCES!! These are interesting statements and I would love to look into them more and be able to use them in arguments, but I won't if I don't know where they came from
Some of these stats felt really fake, and not just the ones that said things like “67% of statistics are made up on the spot” EDIT: now that I think about it, maybe that stat is true
im so over being a part of a world that now says unalived because the word dead is so....what? scary? offensive? wtf is wrong with people!!!
Whew! Rough day at work, today. I'm unalive tired.
Load More Replies...Statistically speaking, the miracles of coincidence are bound to happen. It is so certain that they will happen till we can say that the greatest miracle of all is when there is no coincidence ever happening at all.
Yes, it's often said that truth can be stranger than fiction. Events happen in real life that are so strange that if you used them in a fictional story people would say, "That could never happen!"
Load More Replies...CITE YOUR SOURCES!! These are interesting statements and I would love to look into them more and be able to use them in arguments, but I won't if I don't know where they came from