According to a 2013 FAO report, insects are part of the traditional diet of at least 2 billion people, and more than 1,900 species are eaten worldwide. Beetles top the list, followed by caterpillars, then bees, wasps and ants, and grasshoppers and crickets. In Thailand, Mexico or Central Africa, they are sold at markets like any other snack. Rich in protein, they need far less land and water than livestock.
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.