Notable Numbers

Christmas statistics that deserve a doubletake

Today we bring you a special edition for Christmas Eve, compiled by various sources, including those in London, the home of Charles Dickens, after all.

From The Telegraph in London, where serious people spent time gathering the facts about Christmas:

700 million The number of children, worldwide, that are eligible to have a visit from Santa Claus before this night is out. We don’t buy the naughty and nice stuff at this point

212 million The number of miles Santa Claus will have to travel on Christmas Eve

32 The number of hours it will take the Jolly Old Elf to make his journey, or 1,800 miles per second

460,000 In tons, the weight of toys Santa will have in his sleigh

3 million Number of reindeer who’ll have to give Dasher, Dancer, et. al., a break somewhere during the night to get the job done.

$750 Amount average American consumer will spend on Christmas gifts this year, according to Statista

$74,000 Amount Kanye West reportedly spent on his daughter, North, for Christmas

$2.6 billion Amount spent, worldwide, on wrapping paper that by tomorrow afternoon will be in the garbage, according to Business Insider

1.2 million The number of letters sent to Santa Claus by today’s end

$37 Price of a tin of genuine hand-made Moravian cookies, aka Christmas cookies, in North Carolina

5 The number of pounds generally accepted as what an average person will gain over Christmas

0.5 The more scientific estimate of the average gain

70 The number of Christmas trees standing at Biltmore House in Asheville as of today

366 Number of shopping days until next Christmas