With about 5.6 million inhabitants, Finland has some 3 million saunas: in houses, apartment blocks, workplaces and even Parliament. 'Sauna' is probably the best-known Finnish word in the world. Far more than a steam bath, it is a place for calm and togetherness, shared with family or friends. In 2020, Finnish sauna culture was added to UNESCO's list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
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.