You may think you know the planet well, but there are a few fun facts we don’t think you know. From the busiest city to the number of bacteria, here are 10 fun facts about the planet.
The entire population of the world fits in Los Angeles
The world population is around 7.5 trillion, a lot of people you would say. Yet all those people fit shoulder to shoulder on the surface of Los Angeles. At least that’s what National Geographic has figured out . Los Angeles isn’t even that big, many cities are bigger so bring the kids, there are still a few that fit on Earth!
The most populous island
Santa Cruz del Islote in San Bernardo, Colombia is small. It is as small as two football fields, it has four main streets and 10 neighborhoods. In total, 500 people live in 155 buildings. Good to declare it the most populous island in the world, according to The Guardian .
The Canary Islands are named after a dog
Canary Islands, of course you immediately think of a bird, but she lends her name to a dog. The Spanish area is called Islas Canarias, the name comes from the Latin, Canariae Insulae, Island of dogs. The islands are therefore named after dogs and not after the birds.
Most country signatures in a day
Most countries’ signatures in one day, that honor goes to The Paris Agreement on climate change. In 2016, no fewer than 174 countries signed the agreement at the United Nations headquarters in New York. According to the UN, the largest number of countries to ever sign a document in one day. The agreement is meant to save the environment, and a great excuse to get a little more tax money from everyone again.
There are 4 quadrillion quadrillion bacteria on Earth
Not all bacteria are bad for humans and that’s a good thing. In total there are 4 quadrillion quadrillion bacteria on earth. This calculated NPR , they are not going to count it would take too long, of course. To give you an idea a quadrillion is a one with fifteen zeros.
Everyone who is alive now, that is 7% of the number of people who have ever lived
More than 108 trillion people have been born since the first Homo Sapiens (50,000 years ago), according to the Population Reference Bureau . With 7.5 billion people on Earth, we all account for 7% of all people who have ever lived. Going from 2 to 7.5 billion in 50,000 years is quite an achievement, of course. Currently, every year more people are joining than we are losing people, so we’re slowly pushing that 7% toward 8%.
More than half of all people are not even 30 years old
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in 2012 more than half of people were under the age of 30 . I immediately feel old I must report. Most of these young people can be found in the Middle East and Africa.
Out of every 200 men, one is a descendant of Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan liked to lie in bed, with a woman under him and he also liked to alternate those women. In his life between 1162 and 1227 he had children by a very large number of women, so many children that he lost count. That was also the case with his wives, nobody knows exactly how many wives or children the man had. In 2003 they went to investigate and guess what, Genghis Khan has around 16 million descendants! So out of every 200 men, one is a descendant of the leader of the Mongol Empire.
Tokyo, Japan is the largest city
Tokyo is big, not only compared to other cities in Japan. With 37 million inhabitants, it leaves the other major cities far behind. Think of Delhi, India there only live 29 million people or how about that little Shanghai, China they only have 26 million. Tokyo is therefore the largest city in the world! Just a comparison with the Netherlands, the city with the most inhabitants here is Amsterdam and less than a million people live there.