From 1931, Coca-Cola ads painted by illustrator Haddon Sundblom popularised a jolly, rotund Santa in a red-and-white suit. But red was already common long before: it appears in some of Thomas Nast's illustrations in the late 19th century, on Christmas cards and magazine covers of the early 20th century, and even in ads for other drinks. Coca-Cola cemented an image; it didn't invent a colour.
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.