All Fun and Games

There are 400 ways of playing the first move on each side in a game of chess, 197,281 ways of playing the first two moves on each side, an estimated 318,979,564,000 ways of playing the first four moves on each side, and an estimated 169,518,829,100,544,000,000,000,000,000 ways of playing the first ten moves on each side. (source)

The population of the Earth can be a source of many interesting statistics. In the year 8,000 B.C., there were only 5 million people on Earth. Four thousand years later, the population had only risen by 2 million people, to 7 million people. Nowadays, Earth's population rises by 2 million roughly every nine days. (source)

Worldwide, around 265 people are born every minute and 115 people die, for a net increase in population of 150 people every minute. (source)

The current population of Earth is over 6,970,000,000. Around 1900 there were only 1,600,000,000 people, meaning that Earth's population has more than quadrupled in slightly over 100 years' time. (source)

The average American spends 18% of his or her income on transportation, and only 13% on food.

In a game of bridge, there are 53,644,737,765,488,792,839,237,440,000 possible ways in which the cards can be dealt. (source)

On August 18, 1913, on an unbiased roulette wheel at Monte Carlo, evens came up 26 times in a row. The probability of this occurring is 1 in 136,823,184.

The typical person breathes 370,000 cubic metres of air in their lifetime.

Thirteen percent of the world's population lives in deserts, which account for about one-third of the Earth's land surface.

Only 1% of the population has a "genius" IQ, one of 140 or higher. (source)

Over 88% of the world's population lives north of the Equator. (source)

In 1985, NASA estimated that the probability of an accident occurring to the space shuttle was 1 in 100,000. However, on January 28, 1986, only the 25^th shuttle launch, Challenger exploded after take-off, killing all seven astronauts aboard, and on February 1, 2003, the 113^rd mission, Columbia exploded on re-entry, again killing all seven astronauts. Earlier estimates by other groups had estimated the probability as being closer to 1 in 100, a probability that seems more reasonable.

Half of the people killed by bombs are those trying to make or set the bombs.

In a study of 3,000 people who made New Year's resolutions in 2007, only 12% stuck to them. The resolution with the greatest chance of success was "to enjoy life more". (source)

In 1936, Literary Digest magazine polled 10 million people (more people than in any previous survey prior to a presidential election) using the telephone and its mailing list to try to predict the outcome of the United States presidential election. Their results indicated that Alf Landon would defeat Franklin Roosevelt by a margin of 370 electoral votes to 161; however, in the election, Landon was trounced by Roosevelt by a margin of 523 electoral votes to 8, at the time the largest landslide in a presidential election. The problem with the survey was that, during the Great Depression, telephones and magazine subscriptions were luxuries that not everyone could afford. Those who could afford such luxuries tended to vote Republican, but the voting public in general was more inclined to vote Democrat. (source)

In 1938, a United States presidential commission concluded that the nation's population would never reach 140 million. The population exceeded that figure only eight years later. (source)

The chances of winning a lottery in which six numbers are drawn from 49 is 1 in 13,983,816. In a lottery in which seven numbers are drawn from 49, the odds of winning are 1 in 85,900,584. (source)

The number of television sets in American homes increased around 10,000% between 1947 and 1952. (source)

The South American country of Suriname consists of about 23% Catholics, 25% Protestants, 20% Muslims, and 27% Hindus. As well, many of the native people practise traditional animism, a population of former black slaves whose ancestors escaped into the rainforest practise an African syncretic faith, and its Chinese community practises Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. (source)

In Uganda, 50% of the population is under 15 years of age. (source)

For every 100,000 girls, 223 will become doctors and 17,475 will become nurses.

Around 40% of murders occur during arguments. (source)

100 people a year choke to death on ball-point pens.

In 1662, John Graunt, a London merchant, published the first set of actuarial tables in his book Observations on the Bills of Mortality. Graunt provides many interesting statistics regarding causes of deaths in London in 1632. Seven people are listed as being murdered, 10 people as having died from cancer, and no specific mention is made of heart ailments. On the other hand, 13 people are listed as having died from "planet", 38 from "king's evil", and 98 from "rising of the lights". Possibly the saddest statistic, however, is that out of 9,535 deaths that year, infants made up 2,268 of them, over 23%. (source)

A 1947 study found that during the Second World War, only about 15 to 25 percent of the American infantry ever fired their rifles in combat. (source)

A group of researchers counted the number of troubles in the world, and came up with a total of 2,653. (source)

In 1997, U.S. News & World Report surveyed readers as to whether they believed that various well-known figures were "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to go to heaven. More people (87%) picked themselves as being likely to get into heaven than anyone else, ahead of people such as Mother Teresa (second place, 79%) or Oprah Winfrey (third place, 66%). (source)

One's lifetime risk of dying due to living with a smoker is 1 in 4,200. Getting struck by lightning over the course of a lifetime is more likely, with odds of 1 in 3,000. (source)

Over 50% of people who win the lottery jackpot return to work.

In 1915, the average American worker earned $687 yearly; however, there were 44 families that year with an income of $1,000,000 or greater, and 1,598 families with an income between $100,000 and $1,000,000. (source)

Around 1,900,000,000 Christmas cards are given in the United States of America yearly, making it the largest card-sending occasion in the country. The second-largest is Valentine's Day, with approximately 192 million cards being given. (source)

In 1915, when 100 million people lived in the United States of America, there were 6.5 million farms. In 2006, when 300 million people lived in the United States of America, there were only 2.1 million farms. (source)