Wise Men Stats: June

Inspired by Harper's Index

June 1

Inspired by Harper's Index

Year the World Health Organization established World No Tobacco Day (May 31/June focus month): 1988
Number of people who die from tobacco-related illness annually, worldwide: 8,000,000
Percentage of all cancer deaths attributable to tobacco: 30
Age at which most smokers report having their first cigarette: 15
Percentage of tobacco company internal documents that acknowledged addiction risks before public admission: 100
Year tobacco companies were first ordered to publicly admit they'd lied about health risks (U.S.): 2017
Amount the tobacco industry spends on marketing globally per day, in millions: 32
Percentage of smokers who say they want to quit: 70
Countries that have fully implemented WHO tobacco control measures: 10
Year smoking was banned on all U.S. domestic flights: 1990
Revenue from tobacco taxes collected by the U.S. government annually, in billions: 14
Cigarettes smoked globally per day, in billions: 15

June 2

Year Queen Elizabeth II was coronated, on June 2: 1953
Age Elizabeth II was at her coronation: 27
Duration of her reign, in years: 70
Number of countries in the Commonwealth during her reign: 56
Estimated viewership of the coronation on television (first major televised royal event): 27,000,000
Percentage of British households with televisions in 1953: 20
Number of Elizabeth II's royal portraits painted in her lifetime: 200+
Countries whose currency featured Elizabeth II's portrait during her reign: 35+
Number of corgis Queen Elizabeth II owned in her lifetime: 30+
Year the Royal Corgi breed was introduced to the Royal Family: 1933
Average annual cost of running the British Royal Family, in U.S. dollars: 110,000,000
Percentage of British public who support the monarchy: 61 (2023 poll)

June 3

Year the Duke of Windsor (formerly Edward VIII) married Wallis Simpson, on June 3: 1937
Year Edward abdicated his throne: 1936
Duration of Edward VIII's reign before abdication, in months: 11
Number of words in his abdication speech: 411
Age Edward was when he abdicated: 42
Age Wallis Simpson was at the time of their marriage: 41
Number of previous marriages Simpson had before Edward: 2
Year Edward and Wallis settled permanently in France: 1949
Year Edward (the Duke of Windsor) died: 1972
Number of descendants Edward left behind: 0 (no children)
Historical debates about Edward's alleged Nazi sympathies: confirmed by declassified documents
Year those declassified documents were released: 2003

June 4

Year the Tiananmen Square massacre occurred, on June 4: 1989
Estimated number of students and civilians killed: 200-10,000 (Chinese Red Cross initial estimate: 2,600)
Days of protest before the crackdown: 49
Countries from which journalists were expelled after the massacre: 0 (many fled voluntarily)
Year "Tank Man" photograph was taken: 1989
Identity of the person known as Tank Man: still unknown
Number of Google searches for Tiananmen Square inside China that return censored results: 100%
Year China began its "Great Firewall" internet censorship system: 1998
Percentage of Chinese internet users who use VPNs to bypass censorship: 31
Number of Western companies that comply with Chinese censorship demands to operate there: 300+
Year Facebook was banned in China: 2009
Countries that have implemented similar large-scale internet censorship: 27

June 5

Year World Environment Day was established by the United Nations: 1972
Number of plant species currently threatened with extinction: 21,000+
Species lost to extinction per day, estimated: 150-200
Percentage of Earth's original forests that remain: 50
Acres of Amazon rainforest cleared per minute: 1.5
Year the Amazon was first surveyed comprehensively from the air: 1970
Number of indigenous languages spoken in the Amazon basin: 240+
Percentage of Amazon indigenous languages with fewer than 1,000 speakers remaining: 70
Species discovered in the Amazon each year, on average: 400
Percentage of all pharmaceuticals derived from rainforest plants: 25
Value of rainforest ecosystem services annually, in trillions: 2.5
Year Chico Mendes was assassinated for defending the Amazon: 1988

June 6

Year D-Day occurred, on June 6: 1944
Allied soldiers who landed on Normandy beaches: 156,000
Allied casualties on D-Day (killed, wounded, missing): 10,000-12,000
German soldiers killed on D-Day: estimated 4,000-9,000
Ships involved in the D-Day armada: 5,000
Aircraft sorties flown on D-Day: 14,000
Longest beach on D-Day (Omaha), in miles: 5
Months the Normandy campaign took before Paris was liberated: 2.5
Year the last D-Day veteran passed away: still living (oldest is 100+)
Number of American cemeteries in Normandy: 2
American graves at Normandy American Cemetery: 9,388
Percentage of D-Day soldiers who were 25 or younger: 60

June 7

Year Prince (born June 7) was born: 1958
Number of albums Prince released in his lifetime: 39
Number of records Prince sold worldwide, in millions: 150
Instruments Prince was credited as playing on his debut album: 27
Year "Purple Rain" was released (both film and album): 1984
Weeks "Purple Rain" album spent at No. 1: 24
Number of songs Prince wrote for other artists: 1,000+
Songs Prince wrote that became No. 1 hits for other artists: 10+
Estimated size of Prince's vault of unreleased recordings: 50,000 hours
Year Prince changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol: 1993
Year he legally changed back to Prince: 2000
Estimated value of Prince's estate at death: 200,000,000 dollars

June 8

Year Muhammad Ali was born (as Cassius Clay) — actually January 17, but June 8 is the anniversary of a landmark fight
Number of times Ali was named "Sportsman of the Century" or similar superlatives: 3 major designations
Record of Ali's professional boxing career: 56 wins, 5 losses
Year Ali was stripped of his heavyweight title for refusing Vietnam draft: 1967
Years Ali was banned from boxing: 3.5
Years Ali spent in prison for draft evasion: 0 (conviction eventually overturned)
Age Ali was when he lit the 1996 Olympic torch, visibly affected by Parkinson's: 54
Percentage of Americans who opposed Ali's draft stance in 1967: 72
Percentage of Americans who called him the greatest athlete of the 20th century in 2000: 45
Number of languages "I am the greatest" has been translated into: 50+
Heavyweight title fights Ali participated in: 25
Year Parkinson's disease was linked to repeated head trauma in boxing studies: 1990

June 9

Year the first known use of the term "computer bug" occurred (Grace Hopper, 1947): 1947
Length of the actual moth found in the Harvard Mark II computer: ~1.5 cm
Pages of source code required to run the Apollo moon guidance computer: 4,000
Memory capacity of the Apollo Guidance Computer, in kilobytes: 4
Memory in a modern smartphone, in gigabytes: 128+
Ratio of modern smartphone computing power to Apollo Guidance Computer: 100,000,000:1
Year the first iPhone was released: 2007
Amount Apple's market capitalization exceeded in 2023, in trillions: 3
Time Americans spend on their smartphones per day, on average, in hours: 4.5
Number of times the average American checks their phone per day: 144
Year smartphone addiction was classified as a behavioral disorder in some countries: 2018
Percentage of teenagers who report feeling anxious without their phone: 56

June 10

Year Alcoholics Anonymous was founded, on June 10: 1935
Number of AA members worldwide: 2,100,000+
Countries with AA chapters: 180
Estimated success rate (1-year sobriety) of AA versus general treatment: 26% vs. 18%
Number of people in the U.S. with alcohol use disorder: 29,500,000
Annual cost of alcohol misuse to the U.S. economy, in billions: 249
Percentage of emergency room visits attributable to alcohol: 22
Year Prohibition ended in the United States: 1933
States that still have counties with full alcohol prohibition today: 7
Amount Americans spend on alcohol per year, in billions: 255
Percentage of U.S. adults who say they drink alcohol: 65
Number of alcohol-related deaths in the U.S. per year: 95,000

June 11

Year the first openly gay country leader was elected (Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, Iceland): 2009
Number of countries where same-sex marriage is legal: 35+
Countries where homosexuality is illegal: 64
Countries where homosexuality is punishable by death: 11
Year the first Pride march was held in New York City: 1970
Size of the first Pride march, in participants: 3,000-5,000
Size of the São Paulo Pride Parade (world's largest), in participants: 4,000,000
Year the Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage constitutional in the U.S.: 2015
Percentage of Americans who supported same-sex marriage in 2015: 60
Percentage of Americans who supported it in 1996: 27
Number of countries that have reversed previously granted LGBTQ+ rights: 4
Year the first LGBTQ+ pride flag was designed by Gilbert Baker: 1978

June 12

Year Anne Frank was born, on June 12: 1929
Age Anne was when she began her diary: 13
Age Anne was when she died at Bergen-Belsen: 15
Duration Anne Frank's family hid in the Secret Annex, in months: 25
Copies of "The Diary of a Young Girl" sold worldwide, in millions: 35+
Languages into which Anne Frank's diary has been translated: 70+
Countries in which the diary is taught in school curricula: 50+
Number of people who helped hide the Frank family: 4 (main helpers)
Year the hiding place was discovered: 1944
Percentage of Dutch Jews who were killed during WWII: 75
Percentage of Jewish population in Nazi-occupied Europe killed: 66
Year Anne Frank House became a museum: 1960

June 13

Year the Miranda warning was established by Supreme Court ruling, on June 13: 1966
Number of words in the standard Miranda warning: 90
Percentage of suspects who waive their Miranda rights and speak to police: 80
Year Miranda rights were ruled to not apply to non-citizens at the border: 2003
Number of criminal convictions overturned due to Miranda violations since 1966: thousands (no central count)
Percentage of false confessions that occur after long interrogations without a lawyer: studies show significantly higher risk
Average length of an interrogation before a false confession, in hours: 16
Percentage of all DNA exonerations in which the defendant had confessed: 25
Year DNA exoneration became possible in criminal cases: 1989
Number of people exonerated via DNA evidence since 1989: 375+
Percentage of exonerated people who are Black: 53
Average years served before exoneration: 13

June 14

Year the American flag was officially adopted, on Flag Day: 1777
Number of times the American flag's design has been officially changed: 27
Year the current 50-star design was adopted: 1960
Number of American flags planted on the moon: 6
Condition of the first moon-planted flag today: faded white (bleached by radiation)
Penalties for flag desecration in the U.S. before they were ruled unconstitutional: $1,000 fine and 1 year jail
Year the Supreme Court ruled flag burning is protected free speech: 1989
Number of U.S. flags manufactured annually: 150,000,000
Percentage of U.S. flags manufactured in China: 1 (legally; unofficial imports more)
Year Congress passed a law requiring government-purchased flags to be made in the U.S.: 2009
Amount spent on American flags in the U.S. per year, in millions: 350
Proper disposal method for a worn U.S. flag per official code: burning

June 15

Year the Magna Carta was signed, on June 15: 1215
Number of clauses in the original Magna Carta: 63
Clauses still in force in English law today: 3
Languages the Magna Carta was originally written in: 1 (Latin)
Number of original copies that survive: 4
Value of a Magna Carta copy sold at auction in 2007, in millions: 21.3
Year the United States Constitution was influenced by Magna Carta principles: 1787
Year Magna Carta was first cited in a U.S. Supreme Court case: 1819
Countries whose constitutions directly reference or quote Magna Carta: 20+
Number of U.S. states whose state seals contain Magna Carta imagery: 4
Year the Magna Carta was declared "invalid" by the Pope at King John's request: 1215 (immediately after signing)
How long it remained "invalid" before being reissued: 3 months (after John's death)

June 16

Year Ulysses by James Joyce was set, celebrated as "Bloomsday": June 16, 1904
Number of pages in Ulysses: 730+ (varies by edition)
Years Joyce spent writing Ulysses: 7
Number of languages Ulysses has been translated into: 18+
Percentage of readers who complete Ulysses, estimated: 15
Longest sentence in Ulysses, in words: 4,391
Year Ulysses was banned in the United States: 1921
Year the ban was overturned: 1933
Copies of Ulysses sold since publication, in millions: 5+
Number of Bloomsday celebrations held globally each year: 250+
Amount spent in Dublin on Bloomsday tourism annually, in millions: 15
Number of words in the longest Shakespeare play (Hamlet) compared to Ulysses: 30,066 vs. 265,000+

June 17

Year the Watergate break-in occurred, on June 17: 1972
Number of operatives caught inside the Watergate building: 5
Days until President Nixon resigned after the break-in: 785
Hours of White House tapes erased by Nixon's secretary (the "18.5 minute gap"): 0.3
Number of Nixon administration officials convicted: 69
Number who were imprisoned: 48
Nixon's approval rating at time of resignation: 24%
Nixon's approval rating at start of his presidency: 68%
Year Nixon was posthumously "rehabilitated" in public opinion polling: 1990s
Number of Nixon's memoirs: 4 (plus other books)
Nixon interview with David Frost viewership, in millions: 45
Year Nixon said "I am not a crook": 1973

June 18

Year Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, on June 18: 1815
Size of Napoleon's army vs. Wellington's coalition: 73,000 vs. 68,000+
Duration of the Battle of Waterloo, in hours: 9
French casualties at Waterloo: 25,000 killed or wounded
Allied casualties: 22,000 killed or wounded
Year Napoleon had previously been exiled to Elba: 1814
Days Napoleon ruled after escaping Elba before Waterloo: 100 (the "Hundred Days")
Final exile location: Saint Helena, South Atlantic
Years Napoleon lived after Waterloo: 6
Height of Napoleon, in feet (debunking the myth): 5'7" (average for his era)
Year the "Napoleon complex" entered the psychological lexicon: 1975
Countries using the Napoleonic Code as legal foundation today: 70+

June 19

Year Juneteenth (June 19, 1865) became a federal holiday in the U.S.: 2021
Days after the official end of the Civil War that enslaved people in Texas were informed: 89
Number of enslaved people in Texas at the time of the announcement: 250,000
Year Juneteenth was first formally observed in Texas: 1866
States that recognized Juneteenth as a holiday before federal designation: 49
Year Texas became the first state to make Juneteenth a state holiday: 1980
Number of years between the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment's ratification: 2 years, 9 months
Percentage of enslaved people the Emancipation Proclamation immediately freed: 0 (applied only to Confederate states, then unenforced)
Year the last state to ratify the 13th Amendment (Mississippi) did so: 1995 (certified 2013)
Average wealth gap created by enslaved labor in today's dollars, owed to descendants: estimated 14 trillion
Number of reparations programs the U.S. has implemented since the Civil War: 0 at federal level
Year Chicago first held a major Juneteenth festival: 1919

June 20

Year the Summer Solstice typically falls: varies (June 20-21)
Hours of daylight at the North Pole on the summer solstice: 24
Hours of daylight at the equator on the summer solstice: 12 (relatively constant)
Tilt of Earth's axis responsible for seasons, in degrees: 23.5
Earliest known solstice monument (Stonehenge alignment): 5,000 years old
Year Stonehenge's current alignment with the solstice was first confirmed: 1901
Visitors to Stonehenge for summer solstice celebrations annually: 10,000+
Percentage of pre-agricultural human societies that organized major ceremonies around solstices: estimated 80%
Number of solstice-oriented ancient structures worldwide: 500+
Date the Northern Hemisphere reaches its maximum solar energy input: June 20-21
Paradox: hottest month in Northern Hemisphere after solstice due to: thermal lag
Days after the solstice that the hottest temperatures typically occur: 30-45

June 21

Year the summer solstice was first calculated with mathematical precision (Eratosthenes): ~240 BCE
How Eratosthenes calculated Earth's circumference using solstice shadows: measured shadow angles between two cities
Accuracy of his calculation versus the modern known value: within 2%
Tools Eratosthenes had available: a stick and a brain
Year GPS became fully operational for civilian use: 1995
Accuracy of modern GPS positioning, in meters: 3-5
Number of GPS satellites currently in orbit: 31
Annual revenue of the GPS industry globally, in billions: 130+
Countries with their own satellite navigation systems: 5 (U.S., Russia, EU, China, Japan)
Percentage of smartphone users who use navigation apps weekly: 77
Number of people who get lost while using GPS each year (reported incidents): thousands
Pedestrians killed annually in the U.S. while using a smartphone: 5,000+

June 22

Year Judy Garland was born, on June 22: 1922
Age Judy Garland was when she filmed "The Wizard of Oz": 16
Year "The Wizard of Oz" was filmed: 1939
Number of people "The Wizard of Oz" film is estimated to have been seen by: 1,000,000,000+
Number of takes required for the "We're off to see the Wizard" scene: 50+
Corset width Garland's studio required her to maintain, in inches: 22
Pills per day Garland was given by MGM to control her weight and energy: 7-10
Year Garland was fired from her first MGM film for being "too fat": 1941
Age Garland died of accidental barbiturate overdose: 47
Year the Stonewall Riots (partly triggered by grief at Garland's funeral) occurred: 1969
Number of Garland tribute concerts held globally each year: 200+
Year "Over the Rainbow" was voted the greatest song of the 20th century by the Recording Industry Association: 2001

June 23

Year the Turing test was conceptually established (Alan Turing's birthday): June 23, 1912
Year Turing published "Computing Machinery and Intelligence": 1950
Percentage of the Enigma decryption effort attributed to Turing's work: estimated 50%+
Years by which Turing's work is credited with shortening WWII: 2-4
Lives saved by shortening the war, attributed to Turing's codebreaking: 14,000,000
Year Turing was convicted of "gross indecency" (for homosexuality): 1952
Turing's sentence: chemical castration
Year Turing died, apparently by suicide (via cyanide-laced apple): 1954
Year the British government issued a formal posthumous apology: 2009
Year Turing received a royal pardon: 2013
Year a new law pardoned all men convicted under the same law ("Turing's Law"): 2017
Turing's face appeared on the British currency denomination, in pounds: 50

June 24

Year the first UFO sighting to receive widespread media attention occurred, on June 24: 1947
Pilot Kenneth Arnold's description of what he saw: "like saucers skipping on water"
Number of UFO reports filed with the U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book: 12,618
Percentage of those reports that remained "unexplained": 6
Year the Pentagon acknowledged a UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) task force: 2020
Number of UAP incidents reported by U.S. military personnel since 2004: 400+
Percentage of Americans who believe intelligent extraterrestrial life exists: 65
Percentage of astronomers who believe extraterrestrial life exists somewhere: 85
Stars in the Milky Way galaxy: 100,000,000,000
Estimated planets in the habitable zones of stars in the Milky Way: 40,000,000,000
Year the first exoplanet was confirmed: 1992
Exoplanets confirmed as of 2024: 5,600+

June 25

Year the Korean War began, on June 25: 1950
Duration of the Korean War, in years (including armistice period): technically ongoing
Lives lost in the Korean War: 5,000,000 (including civilians)
American soldiers killed in Korea: 36,574
Year a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War was signed: never
Current size of the Korean DMZ buffer zone, in miles: 2.5 wide, 160 long
Number of Korean family separations caused by the division: 10,000,000+
Year the last known Korean family reunion between North and South was held: 2018
Number of North Korean nuclear warheads estimated: 40-50
GDP per capita comparison: South Korea vs. North Korea: 35,000 vs. 1,800 (approx.)
Year South Korea became a democracy: 1987
South Korea's GDP rank globally: 13th

June 26

Year the United Nations Charter was signed, on June 26: 1945
Number of original signatories of the UN Charter: 50
Current UN member states: 193
Vatican City's status in the UN: observer state (not a full member)
Languages the UN Charter was written in: 5 (English, French, Russian, Chinese, Spanish)
UN annual budget, in billions: 3.2
Number of UN peacekeeping missions currently active: 12
Peacekeeping troops deployed globally: 87,000
Veto uses by permanent Security Council members since 1945: 300+
Percentage of Security Council vetoes cast by the U.S. that protected Israel: 40+
Number of countries that have left the UN: 0 (Indonesia briefly suspended participation in 1965)
Year Taiwan lost its UN seat to the People's Republic of China: 1971

June 27

Year Helen Keller was born, on June 27: 1880
Age at which Keller became deaf-blind (following illness): 19 months
Age at which Anne Sullivan became her teacher: Sullivan was 20; Keller was 6
Days until Keller learned her first word after Sullivan's teaching began: 30
First word Keller learned to spell: water
Degrees Keller earned (first deaf-blind person to earn a BA): BA from Radcliffe College (Harvard)
Year Keller graduated: 1904
Books Keller authored in her lifetime: 12
Countries Keller visited on speaking tours: 35+
Year Keller joined the Socialist Party: 1909
Number of U.S. Presidents Keller met: 13
Year Keller received the Presidential Medal of Freedom: 1964

June 28

Year Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, triggering WWI, on June 28: 1914
Minutes the assassin Gavrilo Princip had given up and was eating a sandwich before the Archduke's car reversed into him: 45
Number of previous assassination attempts on Franz Ferdinand that same day: 1
Nations that declared war in the next 37 days after the assassination: 8
Ultimate death toll of WWI: 20,000,000
Year WWI was declared "the war to end all wars": 1918
Years until the next world war: 21
Year the Treaty of Versailles was signed (also June 28): 1919
Reparations demanded of Germany in the Treaty, in today's dollars: 800,000,000,000
Year Germany finished paying WWI reparations: 2010
Gavrilo Princip's age at the assassination: 19
His sentence: 20 years (too young for death penalty under Austrian law)

June 29

Year the Globe Theatre burned down (Shakespeare's theatre), on June 29: 1613
Cause of the fire: a cannon prop misfired during a performance of Henry VIII
Number of Shakespeare plays written for the Globe Theatre: 17
Year the original Globe was built: 1599
Audience capacity of the original Globe: 3,000
Percentage of the audience who stood in the "pit" (standing room): 33
Year the reconstructed Globe (Shakespeare's Globe) opened: 1997
Number of Shakespeare plays believed to be written entirely by him: 37 (some collaboration disputed)
Percentage of Shakespeare plays that have been made into films: 100
Languages Shakespeare's plays have been translated into: 80+
Performances of Shakespeare plays worldwide per year: 2,000+
Percentage of English words that Shakespeare invented or first recorded: 1,700 words

June 30

Year the Congo gained independence from Belgium, on June 30: 1960
Years Belgium colonized the Congo: 75
Estimated Congolese deaths under King Leopold II's personal rule: 10,000,000
Year Leopold II's brutal regime was exposed by journalist E.D. Morel: 1903
Year the International Congo Reform Association successfully ended Leopold's personal rule: 1908
Percentage of Congo's population estimated to have died under Leopold: 50
Minerals currently mined in the DRC used in iPhone production: cobalt, coltan, gold
Percentage of global cobalt supply mined in the DRC: 70
Percentage of DRC cobalt mining done by child labor: 40 (of artisanal mining)
Per capita income in the DRC, ranked among world's poorest nations: bottom 5
Number of active armed groups operating in eastern DRC: 120+
Year the DRC was expected to hold its first free elections after independence: 1960 (interrupted by coup)