Every year, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes fatal injury rates by occupation. Loggers almost always rank at or near the top, alongside commercial fishers: in recent years, roughly 80 to 110 deaths per 100,000 full-time workers, some 20 to more than 30 times the national average of around 3.5. The causes: falling trees, heavy machinery, rough terrain and emergency help that is often far away.
That's the estimate from a WHO-led study published in The Lancet in 2024, covering the half-century since the Expanded Programme on Immunization was launched in 1974. It works out to about six lives saved every minute, mostly infants. The measles vaccine alone accounts for around 60% of those lives.
According to the World Gold Council, about 216,000 tonnes of gold have been mined in all of human history. Because gold is so dense (19.3 tonnes per cubic metre), it would fit in a cube about 22 metres on each side, roughly the height of a seven-storey building. Strikingly, about two-thirds of it has been mined since 1950.