‘There are nine million bicycles in Beijing’ (Katie Melua) … and this blog has had 9 million hits by this week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
There are nine million bicycles in Beijing
That’s a fact,
It's a thing we can’t deny
Like the fact that I will love you till I die.
We are twelve billion light years from the edge,
That’s a guess,
No-one can ever say it’s true
But I know that I will always be with you. – Katie Melua
As Katie Melua sings, there are nine million bicycles in Beijing, that’s a fact, and we are 12 billion light years from the edge.
And at some stage yesterday (21 October 2024), this blog reached a new peak, with 9 million hits by late yesterday evening … and that’s a fact rather than a guess.
After I began blogging, it took until July 2012 to reach 0.5 million hits. This figure rose to 1 million by September 2013; 1.5 million in June 2014; 2 million in June 2015; 2.5 million in November 2016; 3 million by October 2016; 3.5 million by September 2018; 4 million on 19 November 2019; 4.5 million on 18 June 2020; 5 million on 27 March 2021; 5.5 million on 28 October 2021; 6 million over half a year later on 1 July 2022; 6.5 million on 6 February 2023; 7 million on 13 August 2023; 7.5 million on 29 November 2023; 8 million by 30 April 2024; 8.5 million less than three months later, on 14 July 2024; and 9 million yesterday (21 October 2024).
This means that this blog continues to reach half a million readers in a four-to-seven month period, somewhere above 100,000 a month, up to 4,000 a day, and an average of over 800 hits for each post. In recent months, these figures have been exceeded on occasions, with a record 35,452 hits on one single day (28 May 2024), followed by 27,616 hits (11 May 2024), 26,974 (27 May 2024), 23,234 (3 September 2023), 22,436 (19 June 2024), 21,999 (4 September 2023), 16,250 (21 August 2024), 15,936 (18 June 2024), 15,211 (7 September 2023), 15,193 (6 September 2023), 14,411 (20 June 2024), 14,282 (4 August 2024), 13,362 (17 June 2024), 13,301 (11 December 2023), 12,027 (19 July 2024), 11,733 (9 December 2023) 11,333 (5 September 2023), 10,785 (28 November 2023), 10,480 (10 May 2024), 10,418 (7 August 2024), 10,339 (6 August 2024), 10,276 (16 June 2024) and 10,187 (13 June 2024).
At times in recent months, there have been 8,000 to 10,000 hits a day, and so far there have been almost 100,000 hits or an average of about 4,500 a day, so far this month (October 2024).
With this latest landmark figure of 9 million hits, I find myself asking not only are there 9 million bicycles in Beijing but: What do 9 million people look like? What would £9 million or €9 million buy? How vast is 9 million sq km? Indeed, what does 9 million of anything mean to the environment?
If this blog had one hit a minute, then 9 million minutes equals something like 17 years, 1 month and 10 days.
But where can one find nine million people?
Around 9 million people die every year of hunger and hunger-related diseases. This is more than die from AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
Greece has over 10 million permanent residents, of whom 9 million live on the mainland (including almost 4 million people in the greater Athens area); the remaining 1 million people live on the over 1,200 Greek islands.
Switzerland has reportedly hit a historic population milestone: nine million people now live in the country.
London is home to about 9 million people within the borders of Greater London.
Egypt now hosts 9 million migrants and refugees, a number that has increased following the outbreak of conflict in neighbouring Sudan, prompting many people to flee, according to a Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Cairo, Ahmed Abu Zeid. Sudan is now the country with the largest number of displaced people and the largest child displacement crisis in the world.
Pollution is responsible for at least 9 million premature deaths a year worldwide, accounting for one in six deaths, according to a recent report published in Lancet Planetary Health.
A report earlier this year (March 2024) shows how Wrexham football club owed its co-owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynold almost £9 million.
An analysis in the US commissioned by the BlueGreen Alliance from the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst finds that the more than 100 climate, energy, and environmental investments in the Inflation Reduction Act will create more than 9 million good jobs over the next decade — an average of nearly 1 million jobs each year.
The WHO estimates that the world will need an additional 9 million nurses and midwives by the year 2030.
And Europeans will buy almost nine million fewer electric vehicles between 2024 and 2030 than expected, as high prices, insufficient range, and clunky recharging put off prospective buyers, according to the investment bank UBS.
Greece has over 10 million permanent residents, of whom 9 million live on the mainland, including almost 4 million people in the greater Athens area (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
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