The Wise Men Stats
200 Startling Statistics for the Curious, the Troubled, and the Awake
In the tradition of Wise Men Stats: each figure is a mirror held up to the world.
ECONOMICS & LABOR
Percentage of Americans who cannot cover a $400 emergency expense without borrowing or selling something: 37%
Ratio of CEO pay to median worker pay at S&P 500 companies: 344:1
Percentage of Americans who have no retirement savings: 25%
Amount of wealth held by the bottom 50% of Americans combined: less than 3%
Number of billionaires who have more wealth than the bottom 50% of humanity: 8
Percentage of American workers who report their employer does not offer a retirement plan: 43%
Average number of hours per week that gig workers in the United States work across multiple platforms: 3 jobs
Number of years since the US federal minimum wage was last raised as of 2024: 14
Ratio of minimum wage purchasing power in 1968 versus today, adjusted for inflation: 1968 was worth more
Percentage of the US workforce employed in jobs that did not exist 30 years ago: approximately 10%
Average amount of consumer debt carried by a US household excluding mortgage: $21,800
Percentage of tipped workers in the US who experience wage theft annually: 30%
Number of weeks of paid family leave mandated by federal law in the United States: 0
Number of countries in the OECD that have no federal paid parental leave: 1 (the United States)
Percentage increase in US labor productivity since 1979 compared to percentage increase in typical worker pay: productivity up 65%, pay up 18%
Amount the average American will spend on lottery tickets in a lifetime: $24,000
Percentage of US adults who are functionally financially illiterate (cannot calculate compound interest): 66%
Number of months before the expected exhaustion of US Social Security trust funds under current projections: approximately 156 months (2033)
Estimated amount of wages stolen from workers by employers through minimum wage violations annually in the US: $15 billion
Percentage of employees who have never negotiated their salary: 37%
Ratio of hours worked per year by American workers versus German workers: Americans work 250+ hours more
Percentage of US small businesses that fail within 5 years: 50%
Number of Amazon workers who were fired for raising safety concerns during the pandemic: several hundred (officially disputed)
Percentage of restaurant workers in the US who report being food insecure: 26%
Percentage of the S&P 500's total gains since 1928 that occurred on just the 10 best trading days per decade: over 90%
HEALTH & MEDICINE
Number of Americans who die annually from preventable medical errors: 250,000 (making it the 3rd leading cause of death)
Percentage of US adults who are obese: 42%
Average life expectancy difference between the wealthiest and poorest Americans: 10–15 years
Percentage of bankruptcies in the United States that are related to medical bills: approximately 66%
Number of Americans who do not have a primary care physician: 100 million
Average wait time to see a new primary care physician in major US cities: 26 days
Percentage of clinical trial participants historically who were women: less than 25%
Number of years it takes on average to diagnose endometriosis: 7–10
Ratio of research funding for erectile dysfunction versus premenstrual syndrome despite PMS affecting 5–8% of women severely: historically 5:1 in favor of ED
Percentage of drugs recalled by the FDA that had been approved in the previous decade: nearly 20%
Number of Americans living with undiagnosed diabetes: approximately 8.5 million
Percentage of emergency room visits in the US that could have been handled by urgent care or a primary care visit: 71%
Cost of a standard appendectomy in the US versus in Germany: $33,000 vs. $4,700
Amount the United States spends on healthcare per capita annually: $12,500 (nearly double the next highest nation)
Percentage of US healthcare spending that goes to administrative costs: 34%
Number of mental health professionals in the United States per 100,000 people: 16 (the World Health Organization recommends 23)
Percentage of adults with diagnosable mental health conditions who receive no treatment: over 50%
Age at which the average American first develops a chronic disease: 50
Number of Americans who will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime: 1 in 2 men, 1 in 3 women
Percentage of medications prescribed in the US that patients do not take as directed: 50%
Number of Americans who die annually from opioid overdose: approximately 80,000
Average amount a US hospital charges for a normal vaginal delivery versus what it costs: $13,000 billed vs. $3,000 cost
Percentage of American adults who have not seen a dentist in the past year due to cost: 37%
Amount pharmaceutical companies spent on marketing versus research in the United States: marketing often exceeds R&D by 2:1
Number of states that allow insulin cost-sharing limits to protect diabetics from catastrophic drug costs as of 2023: 24
ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE
Year by which scientists estimate the Arctic Ocean will be ice-free in summer if current trends continue: 2040
Percentage of Earth's species that are currently threatened with extinction: 25%
Number of species that go extinct every day: approximately 150
Amount of plastic produced globally since 1950 that has been recycled: 9%
Number of pieces of microplastic found per liter of bottled water on average: 240
Percentage of the world's freshwater that is accessible for human use: less than 1%
Number of years it takes a plastic bag to decompose: 1,000
Amount by which global average temperatures have already increased since pre-industrial levels: 1.2°C
Year the Great Barrier Reef last experienced mass bleaching: multiple events since 2016
Number of the 20 hottest years on record that have occurred since 2000: 19
Percentage of global carbon emissions produced by the wealthiest 1% of people: 17%
Amount of Amazon rainforest destroyed since 1970: approximately 20%
Number of the world's largest rivers that no longer reach the ocean year-round: 3 (Colorado, Yellow, Indus)
Percentage of insect biomass that has been lost in Germany in the past 27 years: 76%
Amount of methane released annually by the global cattle industry, in carbon dioxide equivalent: more than the entire aviation sector
Number of countries that have no legally binding climate commitments: approximately 30
Percentage of global emissions that come from food waste alone: 8%
Number of times the entire global economy could be powered by currently available renewable energy resources: 4,000
Percentage of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by count that is microplastics: 94%
Average number of species a typical American diet sends toward extinction annually through land use: 1–2
Cost differential between the impacts of climate change on the world's poorest nations versus their contribution to emissions: they suffer 75% of impacts while causing less than 10% of historical emissions
Number of climate refugees predicted by 2050 under high-emission scenarios: 1.2 billion
Percentage of global electricity that could be supplied by rooftop solar alone: 40%
Year by which current global fish stock trends project the collapse of commercial fisheries if unchanged: 2048
Percentage of Earth's land surface that has been significantly altered by human activity: 75%
POLITICS & GOVERNANCE
Percentage of the world's population that lives under authoritarian government as of 2023: 72%
Number of democracies that have undergone significant democratic backsliding since 2006: 35
Percentage of US laws that are ever reviewed by the public before being passed: fewer than 10% receive meaningful public input
Average cost of a winning US Senate campaign: $22 million
Percentage of US senators who are millionaires: approximately 65%
Number of registered lobbyists for every elected member of Congress: approximately 24
Percentage of federal lobbying dollars that come from corporations versus citizens' groups: 95% vs. 5%
Number of countries where voting is compulsory: 26
Voter turnout in the United States in midterm elections compared to Sweden's lowest-turnout election: US: ~45%, Sweden minimum: ~80%
Average number of years between passage of climate legislation in Congress and when it takes effect: 5–10
Percentage of Americans who cannot name all three branches of government: 36%
Number of sitting US Congress members with no college degree: fewer than 10
Percentage of US local government positions that go uncontested in elections: over 30%
Amount spent on US federal elections in 2020: $14.4 billion
Ratio of gun lobby spending to gun control spending in US federal lobbying since 2000: approximately 3:1
Number of countries that have women as head of government as of 2023: 26
Percentage of UN Security Council resolutions vetoed by a single nation since 2000: 30% (United States)
Average age of the US Senate as of 2023: 63.9 years
Number of US states that allow people convicted of drug offenses to permanently lose voting rights: 2
Percentage of Americans who trust the federal government "always" or "most of the time": 16%
Amount of US foreign aid as a percentage of the federal budget: less than 1%
Number of years it takes on average for a US civil court case to go to trial: 5
Percentage of US criminal cases that go to trial: approximately 3%
Percentage of US inmates awaiting trial who are legally innocent (not yet convicted): 70% of the jail population
Number of countries that have abolished capital punishment: 106
CULTURE & MEDIA
Number of languages that go extinct every year: approximately 24
Percentage of the world's languages that are spoken by fewer than 1,000 people: 40%
Average number of hours Americans spend on social media per day: 2.3
Number of newspapers that have closed in the United States since 2005: over 2,500
Percentage of Americans who cannot name a single current Supreme Court justice: 55%
Number of publishing companies that control most of Western commercial publishing: 5
Average age of a cable news viewer: 68
Percentage of Americans who have not read a book in the past year: 26%
Number of books published daily in the United States: approximately 4,500
Percentage of musicians on streaming platforms who earn less than $1,000 per year from streaming: 90%
Amount Spotify pays per stream: approximately $0.003–$0.005
Percentage of the world's films produced in Nigeria (Nollywood) annually by volume: second only to India
Number of people who speak Mandarin Chinese as a first language versus English: Mandarin: 920 million, English: 380 million
Number of hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute: 500
Percentage of news stories that are repackaged from a single wire service or press release with no original reporting: estimated 60–80%
Number of Oscar Best Picture winners in the first 80 years of the Academy Awards that featured a non-white lead: fewer than 10
Percentage of speaking roles in the top 100 grossing films that go to women: 33%
Average amount a full-time musician earns annually in the United States: $56,000
Number of languages represented in the top 25 most-streamed Spotify songs of 2023: 5
Number of countries that rank higher than the United States on press freedom indices: 44
Percentage of global media revenue controlled by 6 parent companies: approximately 90%
Number of children who follow at least one social media influencer daily: 90% of those with smartphone access
Average time US adults spend watching television per day: 4 hours 30 minutes
Percentage of Wikipedia content created by contributors who identify as women: 9%
Year the last remaining drive-in movie theater in New Zealand closed: 2020 (last in Southern Hemisphere)
TECHNOLOGY & INTERNET
Number of data points tech companies collect about the average smartphone user per day: hundreds to thousands
Percentage of global web traffic that is bot-generated: approximately 47%
Amount of data generated globally every day: 2.5 quintillion bytes (2.5 × 10¹⁸)
Number of people who have never used the internet: approximately 2.7 billion
Percentage of websites that are in English despite only 16% of the world speaking it: approximately 55%
Amount Google pays Apple annually to be the default search engine on Safari: estimated $18–20 billion
Number of nuclear power plants it would take to power all data centers currently operating globally: approximately 90
Percentage of Americans who have fallen for at least one online scam: 45%
Average time before a new internet-connected device is attacked by malicious traffic after being plugged in: under 5 minutes
Number of passwords exposed in data breaches in 2023 alone: over 6 billion records
Percentage of people who use the same password for multiple accounts: 65%
Number of AI-generated images created daily as of 2023: estimated 34 million
Amount of energy consumed by a single query to a large language model versus a Google search: AI query uses 10x more energy
Percentage of AI training datasets that contain demonstrably false or fabricated information: studies suggest 20–40%
Number of the world's largest technology companies founded in a garage or dorm room: 6 (Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Dell, HP)
Age at which the average American child first gets a smartphone: 10–11
Percentage of US teenagers who say social media makes them feel worse about their body: 45%
Number of years it took radio to reach 50 million users versus TikTok reaching that milestone: radio: 38 years, TikTok: 9 months
Percentage of all email traffic that is spam: approximately 45%
Amount spent on cybersecurity globally in 2023: $188 billion — and still rising
Number of countries that ban end-to-end encrypted messaging: over 20
Percentage of global internet traffic that flows through undersea cables owned by or partially controlled by 3 companies: over 50%
Amount of e-waste generated globally per year: 53 million metric tons
Percentage of that e-waste that is formally recycled: 17%
Number of transistors in a 2024 flagship smartphone processor versus a 1971 Intel 4004: 2024: 20 billion; 1971: 2,300
RELATIONSHIPS & FAMILY
Percentage of married Americans who report being "very happy" in their marriage: 61%
Median age at first marriage in the United States, current versus 1960: now 30 for men, 28 for women; 1960: 23 and 20
Percentage of Americans who have never married, current versus 1960: 35% vs. 15%
Number of countries where same-sex marriage is legally recognized: 35
Average number of years a divorce takes to finalize in the United States: 1 year
Percentage of divorced adults who remarry within 5 years: 50%
Percentage of people who meet their long-term partner online: over 40% and rising
Number of Americans who report having no close friends: 12%
Percentage increase in loneliness in the United States since 1990: approximately 58%
Average amount of time American parents spend with their children per day versus 1965: 2023: 135 minutes; 1965: 45 minutes
Percentage of adults who have cut off contact with a parent: approximately 27%
Number of Americans caring for an aging parent while also raising children simultaneously: approximately 11 million
Average duration of a marriage that ends in divorce in the United States: 8 years
Percentage of adults who say their pet is their primary emotional support animal: 32%
Number of children born in the United States to unmarried parents: 40%
Rate at which domestic violence incidents increase during major sporting events: 26%
Percentage of men who say they have no one to turn to in a mental health crisis: 40%
Average number of social media followers the typical person follows who they have never met in person: 60%
Number of countries that criminalize marital rape: approximately 130 (and counting)
Percentage of Americans who say religion is "very important" in their lives, current versus 1975: 41% vs. 68%
Number of pets euthanized in US shelters annually: approximately 1.5 million
Percentage of widowed adults who report severe loneliness in the year following their partner's death: 72%
Number of Americans who say they are estranged from at least one family member: 27%
Average cost of a wedding in the United States: $30,000
Percentage of couples who say financial stress is their leading source of relationship conflict: 35%
EDUCATION & KNOWLEDGE
Percentage of US adults who read at or below a 6th-grade level: 21%
Number of students who graduate from US colleges carrying student loan debt: approximately 45%
Average student loan debt for a bachelor's degree graduate: $37,000
Percentage of US students who attend public K–12 schools: 90%
Average per-pupil spending gap between the wealthiest and poorest school districts in the same state: 2:1 or greater
Percentage of kindergartners from low-income families who enter school behind their wealthier peers in pre-reading skills: 60%
Number of countries that outperform the United States in math literacy among 15-year-olds: 36
Percentage of college students who change their major at least once: 30%
Average return on investment for a college degree versus entering the workforce after high school: $900,000 lifetime earnings premium (but varies enormously by major and school)
Number of US states that require personal finance education for high school graduation: 25
Percentage of adults who cannot correctly calculate a 15% tip without a calculator: 28%
Number of peer-reviewed scientific papers published annually that are never cited by another paper: approximately 50%
Percentage of published psychology studies that fail to replicate when repeated: approximately 50%
Amount of research that never gets published because results were negative or inconclusive ("publication bias"): estimated 50% of all trials
Number of hours per year the average American spends in formal or informal learning after leaving school: 200 (versus 1,000 as a student)
Percentage of working adults who say their job requires skills they did not learn in school: 70%
Number of languages offered in US public school instruction: dramatically fewer than in European countries; most US students study one
Average age at which reading difficulties are formally identified in US schools: 8–9 (international research suggests intervention is most effective before age 6)
Percentage of Americans who believe in at least one conspiracy theory: approximately 50%
Percentage of US adults who could pass the US citizenship test (the one immigrants must pass): 36%
Number of scientific facts that were accepted consensus that were later overturned: hundreds across history — pointing to science's strength (self-correction), not weakness
Percentage of adults who say they never read for pleasure: 25%
Average number of books read per year by adults who describe themselves as "readers": 12
Number of US universities in the world's top 10 by most international rankings: 6–8
Percentage of scientific research globally funded by governments versus private corporations: shifting toward private — now roughly 45% private in the United States
The Observatory Almanac | 200 Figures for Reckoning With the World
Sources: Federal Reserve, Bureau of Labor Statistics, WHO, CDC, IPCC, Pew Research, Oxford Internet Institute, UNESCO, OECD, and peer-reviewed literature. Statistics represent best available data at time of writing; some figures are approximate or range estimates from multiple sources.