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Everyday Life in Real Time

The statistics shown are worldwide unless otherwise indicated - learn more here.

Use the dropdowns to change categories (note: the "Not so Great" category is grim), laugh at some outlandish units of measurement, and change the timescale (24 hours, 7 days, etc).

Click the counters for sources and hand-picked articles and videos on the topic.

Commercial airline flights

Source 1 Source 2 Interactive real-time aircraft traffic map The largest airplane ever flown

Births

Source 1 with interesting population data and charts Source 2 Source 3 Real-time birth map visualization The incredible decrease in infant morality over time

Uber trips taken

Source 1 - Uber's 2023 fiscal reports The Uber enginneering tech stack Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

Beer brewed

Source 1 with charts and Graphs Source 2 The fascinating ancient history of beer How beer is brewed

Packages delivered

Source 1 with a worldwide parcel delivery market report and carrier volume visualizations by country Source 2 Marvel at a fully automated grocery picking and packing warehouse with 2,300 robots (video) Inside the UPS worldport shipping superhub, the world's largest automated package handling facility (45 min. video)

Seafood eaten

Source 1 Source 2 - a fascinating look at the fishing industry with 30+ interactive charts, graphs, and maps The aquaculture (farmed seafood) revolution A deep dive into the aquaculture industry in Maine Deep sea fishing (1.5 hour documentary video on a fishing/packaging vessel) 63 fantastic fish facts

$ of illicit drugs purchased (USD)

Source 1 Source 2 - UN world drug report Columbian cocaine farming and production along the El Naya - vice news (video) 33 vintage anti-marijuana advertisements from the US Erowid - the "encyclopedia" of psychoactive drugs

Credit/Debit card transactions

Source 1 Source 2 COBOL - The code that moves your money The prime numbers keeping your card information safe

Cups of coffee enjoyed

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 10 steps from seed to cup How caffeine works in 60 seconds 21 fun coffee facts Kopi Luwak - gourmet coffee from cat feces

Youtube videos watched

Source 1 with 30 Youtube stats and facts Source 2 Top 1000 youtubers ranked by most subscriptions (with individual category options) Watch random youtube videos (with categories)

Cigarettes smoked

Source 1 with an industry overview Source 2 Vintage cigarette advertisements (physician approved!) The history of tobacco use worldwide

Hours worked

Source 1 with an interactive map Source 2 Comparison of average hours worked today vs. the past by country 10 ways workplace culture differs around the world

Whatsapp messages sent

Source 1 with detailed worldwide statistics Source 2 How founder Jan Koum built Whatsapp Whatsapp (the world's most used messaging app) user statistics

Emails sent

Source 1 with 75 interesting email statistics Source 2 The history of email (a good summary with some marketing spam for the irony)

Water used (residential, commercial, and agricultural)

Source 1 - international water report with interactive charts and maps How city water purification and waste treatment works, an incredible 3D treatment plant simulation (video) Why desalination is so difficult (video)

The human body

Skin cells shed by your body (aka dust)

Source 1 with a quick overview of the science Source 2 The layers of the skin - a 3D interactive model (click tab for 3D) The anatomy of the skin (microscopic images and illustrations) Is dust mostly dead skin (video) 10 remarkable facts about skin

Red blood cells produced by your body

Source 1 - a great intro to science of red blood cells Source 2 - red blood cell proteomics (scientific paper) Source 3 - red blood cell population dynamics (scientific paper) Your blood type is a lot more complicated than you think The composition and function of blood (video)

New cells produced by your body

Source 1 with an article about turnover rates of different cell types Infographic of how often cells are replaced and when they stop growing How nuclear weapons testing enabled scientists to determine cell turnover rates

Hemogloblin molecules created in your body (inside the new red blood cells)

Source 1 - the basic science of red blood cells and hemoglobin Source 2 - Red blood cell proteomics

Oxygen atoms attached to these new hemoglobins

Source 1 - the basic science of red blood cells and hemoglobin Source 2 - Red blood cell proteomics (scientific paper)

ATP molecules produced in your body

Source 1 with an article about what ATP is, why it's essential for life, and how it works

The scale of industry

Vehicles manufactured

Source 1 with production data by country Source 2 Source 3 Low bridge (funny video) 102 fascinating automobile facts

Cans of Spam produced

Source 1 - Spam.com with some company history and fun facts Spam - from culinary tradition to object of scorn and back again How Spam is really made How Spam fed our troops and became an international phenomenon

Smartphones manufactured

Source 1 Learn how cell phones communicate with cell towers The evolution of mobile phones (video with lots of "tech nostalgia") Steve Jobs introduces the first smartphone (video)

Pairs of shoes purchased

Source 1 with detailed global shoe production statistics Source 2

Milk produced (all animals)

Source 1 with an interactive map Source 2 Source 3 Source 4 How cows produce milk (video) - a 3d tour of the cow's four stomachs From farm to table, learn how cow milk is processed How cheese is made

Aluminum cans manufactured

Source 1 with an industry overview Source 2 - aluminum recycling statistics The secret life of the aluminum can, a feat of modern engineering How aluminum cans are made

Plastic bottles molded

Source 1 Source 2 How plastic PET bottles are made (video) A new study (2024) shows an average bottle of water (1L) contains 240,000 microplastic particles

Meat produced (all animals except fish and insects)

Source 1 featuring a deep dive into meat production statistics with interactive charts and maps Source 2 Beef production terminology and cattle breeds The aquaculture (farmed fish) revolution

Plastic created

Source 1 with interactive map Source 2 A primer on plastics The history of the world's first plastics How injection molding works Recycling’s hidden microplastic menace

Petroleum extracted

Source 1 with detailed breakdown (mainly US info) Source 2 How an oil refinery works An incredible video tour of an offshore oil drilling platform A detailed history of oil drilling and innovations in the US Interactive map of oil and gas extraction sites worldwide Interactive map of oil pipelines worldwide The science of cracking, isomerisation and reforming

Chicken eggs produced

Source 1 with egg production infographics Source 2 with interactive map Source 3 How commercial egg production works (video) Intriguing egg facts

Corn harvested

Source 1 with production by country Source 2 Source 3 with comparsion to other grains A visual story on the history of maize Modern Marvels: Corn (45 min. video episode) The corn production handbook for farmers (down the rabbit hole...)

Steel manufactured

Source 1 - detailed world report Source 2 A deep dive into everything steel The Bessemer process, a cornerstone of the industrial revolution Take a tour of a steel mill (video) 15 different steel forging machines in action (video) How steel forged an American empire (history channel, 1.5 hour video) Interactive map showing the details of over 1,100 steel mills worldwide

Concrete produced

Source 1 Source 2 with production by country All about concrete while being buried in it (25 min. video) 3D printing concrete homes (video) The difference between concrete and cement The history of concrete

Coal mined

Source 1 with market analysis Source 2 by country and type of coal Source 3 with chart by country Interactive map showing the details of 6,000+ coal mines worldwide The bucket wheel excavator, the world's largest terrestrial vehicle (short video) Life as a coal miner in the 1890's Underground mechanized longwall coal mining (video)

Hidden realities of life

Distance you have traveled through space

Source 1 - Your velocity relative to earth's rotation, the sun, etc. Source 2 - 1 trillion miles in a lifetime

Neutrinos passed through your body

Source 1 - If you compressed the empty space out of all humans, would they fit in the space of a sugar cube? Source 2 - Fermilab Source 3 with article Source 4 with article

Stuff made

Cardiac pacemakers manufactured

Source 1

Electric cars manufactured

Source 1 - report with interactive maps and charts

Motorcycles manufactured

Source 1 with complete industry report

TV's manufactured

Source 1

Smartphones manufactured

Source 1 Learn how cell phones communicate with cell towers The evolution of mobile phones (video with lots of "tech nostalgia") Steve Jobs introduces the first smartphone (video)

Tires manufactured

Source 1 - an enviromental study of tire waste Source 2 Source 3 How car tires are made (video) A Nigerian entrepreneur's solution for recycling old tires (video)

Hydrochloric acid synthesized

Source 1

Single use cups made

Source 1

Microprocessors fabricated

Source 1 The miracle of microchips, a visual story The first modern electronic computer How microchips are made (30 min. deep dive video) How computer memory works (30 min. deep dive video) The world's oldest mechanical computer Microchip fabrication facts

Stuff mined

Berylium mined

Source 1 - all the metals we mined in one infographic

Gold mined

Source 1 Source 2 with interactive chart of gold production over the past century

Silver mined

Source 1 with future projections Source 2

Cobalt mined

Source 1

Nickel mined

Source 1

Copper mined

Source 1 Source 2 with infographic of production by country

Bauxite mined (aluminum ore)

Source 1 Source 2 with list of production by country

Iron Ore mined

Source 1 with infographic of common metals mined

Somewhat popular

Bottles of Tabasco hot sauce sold

Source 1 - a tour of Tabasco headquarters, from farm to bottle (video)

Dunkin Donuts coffees sold (retail only, non-grocery)

Source 1

McDonald's customers served

Source 1 with 22 McDonald's statistics

Lego pieces molded

Source 1 - about the Lego group Source 2 with fun Lego facts Amazing lego machines in action (video) An interactive, deep dive into the history of Legos 20 incredible Lego world records (video)

Servings of Coca-Cola products consumed

Source 1

The internet

Music tracks added to streaming services

Source 1

Hours of public Youtube content uploaded

Source 1 with 30 Youtube stats and facts Source 2

Google searches

Source 1 with 34 eye-opening google search statistics

Total internet traffic volume (GB)

Source 1 with an interactive report on world internet use Source 2

Stuff moved

Commercial freight transported by air

Source 1

Commercial freight transported by ship

Source 1 Real-time, interactive worldwide ship tracking An in-depth tour of a container ship (video)

Earth

Wildfires started

Source 1 with interactive map by country

Meteorites and space debris entering the atmosphere

Source 1 - asteroid fast facts (NASA) Source 2 - what is a meteor shower?

Flashes of lightning

Source 1 - article with map of lightning frequency Source 2 with lightning injury and death statistics Fascinating deep-dive report (with tons of graphics) on lightning detection and statistics Real-time worldwide lightning tracking map The weird ways that lightning works (video)

Bee hummingbird wing flaps in flight

Source 1 with a super slow motion video of hummingbirds in flight

New trees sprouted

Source 1 - new study estimates that earth is home to 3 trillion trees, half as many as when human civilization arose

Mississippi river water dischared into the gulf

Source 1 with a list of the top 150 rivers by discharge volume

Amazon river water discharged into the ocean

Source 1 - All about the Amazon Source 2 - Estimates of freshwater discharge from continents (scientific paper) Tour the Amazon river and "La Bomba", the world's only known boiling river (video) Where does the amazon river begin?

Water evaporated from the Amazon rainforest

Source 1 with an article on the Amazon Source 2

Precipitation fallen (rain, snow, etc.)

Source 1 with 5 estimations from scientific papers

Space

Distance traveled around the sun

Source 1 with different perspectives on the relative velocity of earth How gravity actually works (video) Interactive 3D solar system model The reasons for the seasons

Distance traveled at the speed of light

Source 1 with an enlightening overview of the history and science of the speed of light Explore what light is and how it propagates Filming the speed of light with the world's fastest camera (video) See how fast the speed of light travels between points on earth (simple interactive demo)

Years of global energy production generated by the Sun

Source 1 The story of how scientists discovered solar fusion Visualize how many times earth would fit into the sun

Nuclear bombs of solar energy released (1.2 megaton weapon)

Source 1 - TNT equivalent Source 2 - How does the sun produce energy History channel: Secrets of the Sun (45 min. episode) The solar energy trapped by global warming

Calculated as a 1.2 megaton nuclear weapon

Humans in motion

Calories eaten (kcal)

Source 1 Source 2 (calories supplied, not eaten) Do you burn more calories by being more active? New research rethinks part of this seemingly obvious truth. How the caloric value of nuts "changed" due to new research

Steps taken

Source 1 with infographic by country Source 2 The evolution of bipedalism Can you walk without using your brain? A bipedal walking robot...that also flies (scientific article and video)

Breaths inhaled

Source 1 - Normal breathing rates Source 2 - lung facts 20 bonus lung facts

Total heartbeats

Source 1 with heart rates by age Source 2 - scientific paper (US study) Source 3 - 24 fun facts about the heart

Air consumed by all humans

Source 1 - the physics of human breathing (scientific article) What happens when food "goes down the wrong tube", a detailed dissection of the lung (video) Tracking air pollution with interactive maps and graphs

Human curiosities

Sets of twins born

Source 1 with an overview of a recent study on twinning rates In-depth twin facts and figures A thing or two about twins (long-read with great photos) Visiting a town with 2,300 sets of twins (video)

Breast implant surgeries completed

Source 1 with a variety of industry reports

Cataract surgeries completed

Source 1

Vinyl albums sold in the US

Source 1 Source 2 with article on most sold albums, etc.

Wikipedia edits

Source 1 with all offical wikimedia site traffic data 100's of unusual and interesting wikipedia articles Wikipedia is the last best place on the internet Top 5000 wikipedians by number of edits made Wikipedia master table of contents

Sperm cells produced by a male

Source 1 with a quick biology overview Source 2 with a medical overview The long, winding tale of sperm science Fertilization - a fascinating 3D animated video with microscopy

Visits to Pornhub

Source 1

Skin cells shed by your body ( aka dust)

Source 1 with a quick overview of the science Source 2 The layers of the skin - a 3D interactive model (click tab for 3D) The anatomy of the skin (microscopic images and illustrations) Is dust mostly dead skin (video) 10 remarkable facts about skin

Toliet paper rolls used

Source 1 with fascinating TP infographics Tolietguru.com - more history, historical photos, and information on toliets than you should ever want to know How a tree trunk becomes toliet paper (video) A tour of one of the world's largest water treatment plants (video) A deep dive into how wastewater treatment plants operate (6 hr. video series)

Pieces of gum chewed

Source 1 The history of gum from chicle to chiclets 20 facts on bubble gum and its differences from chewing gum

Farts

Source 1 Source 2 with essential fart information 20 memorable farts throughout history What stinks? The role of hydrogen sulfide in the gut

Human eye blinks

Source 1 Source 2 How blinking allows us to see better The incredible diversity of eyes across the animal kingdom

Mostly random

Air "leaked" into space

Source 1 Source 2, the curious case of Earth's leaking atmosphere

Speed of light circles the earth

Source 1 - Watch the speed of light in real-time Source 2 with article and videos Experience the scale of the universe The history and discovery of the speed of light 20 bonus facts about light

Cyanide produced (hydrogen cyanide)

Source 1

Health

Suicides

Source 1 with common facts about suicide Source 2 - comparison of sources and long-term suicide rate tracking by country Source 3 - WHO Interactive map of suicide rate by country

Deaths from mosquito-borne diseases

Source 1 with a list of the world's deadliest animals

Newborn deaths

Source 1 Source 2 The tremendous decline in newborn mortality worldwide

New dementia diagnoses

Source 1 Source 2

Amputations needed after trauma

Source 1

New cancer cases

Source 1 with interactive charts on all facets of cancer statistics (types, demographics, etc.)

Deaths

Source 1 - chart with future projections to 2100 Source 2 A visualization of the most common causes of death An interactive chart and timelapse of birth vs death rates of different countries

The darker side of humanity

Murders

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 with map of homicide rate per country

People newly jailed or imprisoned in the US

Source 1 with an excellent article (and infographics) on the causes and myths of mass incarceration in the US Source 2 with superb quality interactive maps and graphs showing prison populations by state, county, crime, type of facilities, etc. 12 craziest prison escapes of all time 10 unwritten rules of prison - Larry Lawton, retired multi-million dollar jewel thief (video) An interview on what life is like in America's highest security supermax prison with a former prisoner Interactive map of prisons and jails in the US

Deaths from starvation

Source 1 Source 2

World military budget (USD)

Source 1 with report

Animals

Cattle slaughtered

Source 1 with list of a list of different farm animals

Pigs slaughtered

Source 1 with list of a list of different farm animals

Animals (except insects) turned into roadkill

Source 1 Source 2 (US study only, 1+ million per day) Another kind of roadkill - car ‘splatometer’ studies finds massive insect population declines The changing landscape of eating roadkill How roads have transformed the natural world

Animals killed by cats in the US

Source 1

Chickens slaughtered

Source 1 with list of a list of different farm animals

Accidents and natural disasters

Motor vehicle deaths

Source 1 with interactive map and a timelapse of the impressive progress made in reducing road fatalities Source 2 - WHO 21 of the world's most dangerous roads The evolution of automotive safety technologies How airbags work (video with 3D animations)

$ spent on natural disasters

Source 1 Source 2

Environmental issues

Trees cut down

Source 1 - new study estimates that earth is home to 3 trillion trees, half as many as when human civilization arose Do trees talk to each other? 15 weird and wonderful tree facts Do trees have genders? An HD photo gallery of 25 unique and unusual tree species How photosynthesis works (video) Forested area per country and how land use has changed over time (interactive maps and graphs)

Food wasted

Source 1

Solid waste generated (all types inc. commercial)

Source 1 with a map of waste generated per capita Source 2 with a global report on waste types, disposal methods, and future projections Source 3 The steamy science behind composting 20+ interactive charts and maps on a variety of waste statistics Secrets of a mega landfill (45 min. video)

Coal mined

Source 1 with market analysis Source 2 by country and type of coal Source 3 with chart by country Interactive map showing the details of 6,000+ coal mines worldwide The bucket wheel excavator, the world's largest terrestrial vehicle (short video) Life as a coal miner in the 1890's Underground mechanized longwall coal mining (video)

CO2 generated

Source 1 with a deep dive into CO2 emissions (interactive charts) Source 2 with an energy industry report

Ice loss in Antarctica

Source 1 with interactive charts and other Earth "vital signs" (NASA) Source 2 with an article on the effects of Antarctic ice loss

Ice loss in Greenland

Source 1 with interactive charts and other Earth "vital signs" (NASA)