Pooling hundreds of studies from more than 130 countries, World Bank economists George Psacharopoulos and Harry Patrinos estimate that one more year of schooling raises pay by about 9% on average. Returns are often higher in poorer countries, where graduates are scarce, and tend to be higher for women. Education remains one of the most profitable investments economists have measured.
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.