22 Random Statistics You Probably Didn’t Know About

The thirst for knowledge is fed by facts created from statistical data and if you’re a data hound who loves to fill up on interesting tidbits, well, the world has a lot to provide. Scroll on to read a collection of random but ‘interesting stats’ shared on a reddit thread when one user posed a question, “What is the most interesting statistic you know?” The resulting response from folks of all walks of life gives us data on a range of subjects from animals, to sports, to people, to so much more that may even leave you somewhat surprised.

#1

“That belly button bacteria study was wild. 60 belly buttons sampled. 2368 different species of bacteria were 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.”

Image source: Adventurous_Light_85, journals.plos.org

#2

Pleasant_Moose_5417 said:
“That 49.6% of Pakistanis marry a first cousin and 8.3% marry a second cousin. In rural areas of Pakistan, up to 80% of people marry a cousin.”

ViolettaNoRegard replied:
“In Britain, Pakistanis make up 2% of the population but account for 30% of children with genetic diseases. That’s because on average 55% of them (but up to 70% in some areas) practice first cousin marriage.”

transemacabre replied:
“It’s the consequence of arranged marriage and families not wanting ‘outsiders’ to join their families. They want a bride for their son who they can control — so a niece is preferred. One generation of cousin-marriage won’t cause these problems, its cousins marrying, generation after generation, resulting in a very small gene pool with bad recessive genes getting combined.”

Image source: Pleasant_Moose_5417, Only Human

#3

“Genghis Khan killed so many people that he cooled the earth by a bit.”

Image source: the_universe_is_ded, Jeremy Hance

#4

“A survey of Fortune 500 executives found that 93% agree that golf reflects life. 86% admit to cheating at golf.”

Image source: Popcorn53

#5

Vaspion66 said:
“Only about 2% of Earth’s population has naturally blonde hair. That’s insane if you think about it.”

nba123490 replied:
“Light colors on humans are just rare. 1% are red haired 2% are blonde haired 20% are brown haired The majority are black-haired in the world

For eyes same thing really: – green eyes 2% – blue eyes 8% – brown eyes (darker again being the majority) 55% to 79%.”

Image source: Vaspion66

#6

galacticality said:
“Though numbers have slightly inflated due to the pandemic, it remains that only about 4 in every 10 Americans wash their hands after using the bathroom. IIRC, about 60% of women and only 35% of men. Everyone got gross peepee poopoo hands.”

werd5273 replied:
“I don’t understand how people can not wash after pooping. Maybe once in my life, I did not immediately wash due to necessity, but then immediately found a restroom to wash.”

Image source: galacticality

#7

godofhorizons said:
“Wayne Gretzky and his brother hold the record for most points by a brother pair in NHL history. His brother has four points.”

modestmandrakeman replied:
“Gretzky also holds the record for fastest to 1000 points, who’s in second? Wayne Gretzky again on his second 1000 points.”

Image source: godofhorizons

#8

“Even in the 2022 Kentucky Derby, 19/22 entered horses can trace lineage to Secretariat.”

Image source: dndlurker9463 , The New York Racing Association, Inc.

#9

“Despite making up less than 4% of the population, Americans produce over 20% of the garbage in the world.”

Image source: TheDankestPassions, frontiergroup.org

#10

“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.”

Image source: medicated_in_PHL

#11

Davecasa said:
“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.”

Your_One_Lord replied:
“He’s the combination of a lot of factors adding up right. Right genetics born to someone with the motivation and the right influences born in the right place.”

scrubjays replied:
“And the right last name.”

Image source: Davecasa

#12

“The most obese state in the country in 1990 (Mississippi, 15%) was still far skinnier than the least obese state in the country in 2020 (Colorado, 24%). This still blows my mind and I literally think about it every day.”

Image source: jinbtown

#13

Salohacin said:
“90% of people live in the northern hemisphere.”

dxbigc replied:
“Primarily has to do with land mass. Just look at a map and that will explain most of it. Then, take into account the Sahara desert, Amazon rain forest, and that the majority of Australia is basically uninhabitable and you really see the reason.”

Image source: Salohacin

#14

ConstantlySlippery said:
“That we are chronologically closer in time to the T-Rex than the T-Rex was to the Stegosaurus. We are about 66 million years after the t-rex, but the stegosaurus was about 85 million years before the t-rex, 20 million years longer. Dinosaurs were around for a VERY long time. Humans are just a drop in the bucket relatively evolved just a few hundred thousand years for Homo sapiens.”

DangyDanger replied:
“I swear there must have been a highly technologically advanced species of dinosaurs, then came the World War Dino that resulted in one country chucking a huge asteroid at the planet while mass evacuating their population to Venus, where they abused their new home to no end until it became what it is today, which ultimately either drove them out of our system or they faced extinction due to the atmosphere that is no longer compatible with life.”

Image source: ConstantlySlippery , Riley Black

#15

“20% of the mammal species on our planet are different types of bats. There are about 5000 species of mammals, and about 1000 of them are varieties of our little winged buddies.”

Image source: peon2

#16

kawcreek said:
“Motorcycles are 2% of all vehicles [USA]. Motorcycles account for 20% of all road fatalities. I don’t ride anymore.”

Kraagenskul replied:
“In the same vein, less than 10% of Americans do not wear seatbelts and account for 51% of car-related fatalities.”

Image source: kawcreek

#17

monsem12 said:
“2/3 of the Australian population will develop skin cancer at some point in their lives.”

Henry_Sadiq replied:
“Damn, even the SUN is dangerous in Australia.”

Image source: monsem12

#18

cbandy said:
“Used to work as a meteorologist. More people die from flooding each year than from every other natural disaster added together. A good portion, at least, are people who think their cars can make it through the water when they obviously cannot.”

BearsChief replied:
“If there’s one thing I’ve taken away from survival shows and documentaries, it is: Never underestimate the power of moving water.”

Image source: cbandy

#19

BlueCandyBars said:
“When tested by another agency, TSA failed to detect weapons, bombs, and other destructive materials 95% of the time.”

TheBoulder_ replied:
“On top of that, they were told “today is the day we are going to be tested” …and they STILL failed 95% of the time.”

Image source: BlueCandyBars

#20

“Gary Numan is 13 days older than Gary Oldman.”

Image source: AMerrickanGirl

#21

SuvenPan said:
“34 percent of adults and 75 percent of children sleep with a stuffed animal or a blanket, or other sentimental objects as their comfort object.”

Reddit user replied:
“I don’t care if this is false or not. It’s not harmful misinformation, it’s just plain cute. One in every 3rd adults I see statistically sleeps with a stuffed animal. Awesome.”

Image source: SuvenPan

#22

loopywolf said:
“3 people are killed by sharks per year, 3 million sharks are killed by people per year.”

SeaWaveGreg replied:
“I thought to myself “3 million sharks a year? That seems way too high to be true.” So I googled sharks killed by people per year and the answer was 100 million.”

Image source: loopywolf, americanoceans.org