12 January 2025

‘10 million people can’t
be wrong’ when this blog
becomes a ‘mega-blog’,
reaching 10 million hits

A map dividing the world into 804 roughly equal areas of population with 10 million people each (Map created by reddit user minecraftian48)

Patrick Comerford

At some point today, this blog reached a new peak, with 10 million hits since I first began blogging. It is both a humbling statistic and a sobering figure, and leaves me not with a sense of achievement but a feeling of gratitude to all who read and support this blog and my writing.

After I began blogging, it took until July 2012 to reach half a million hits. This figure rose to 1 million by September 2013; 2 million in June 2015; 3 million by October 2016; 4 million on 19 November 2019; 5 million on 27 March 2021; 6 million on 1 July 2022; 7 million on 13 August 2023; 8 million by 30 April 2024; 9 million on 21 October 2024; 9.5 million earlier this month, on 4 January 2025; and 10 million today (12 January 2025).

This means that this blog continues to reach a million readers in a three-to-four month period, somewhere over 300,000 a month, and an average of over 9,500 hits for each post.

In recent months, these figures have been exceeded on occasions, and three of the 20 days of busiest traffic have been in the past three days alone, and 11 more in last year (2024):

• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)
• 100,291 hits (10 January 2025)
• 35,452 hits (28 May 2024)
• 27,616 (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, 676 (26 November 2024)
• 14,411 (20 June 2024)

• 14,282 (4 August 2024)
• 13,566 (1 December 2024)
• 13,362 (17 June 2024)
• 13,301 (11 December 2023)
• 12,605 (29 November 2024)

At times in recent months, there have been 8,000 to 10,000 hits a day. This has been exceeded over these past three days, with 289,076 hits yesterday (11 January alone), 134,254 hits by noon today (10 January 2025) and 100,291 hits on Friday (10 January 2025). There were 214,970 hits last month, or an average of almost 7,000 a day (December 2024).

With this latest landmark figure of 10 million hits by today, I find myself asking:

• What do 10 million people look like?
• What are 10 million people when it comes to wating lists and refugees?
• What would £10 million, €10 million or $10 billion buy?

Minarets on the skyline in Cairo … the UN defines a megacity as an urban agglomeration with over 10 million inhabitants (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A megacity is a very large city, typically with a population of more than 10 million people. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in its report World Urbanization Prospects (2018) defines megacities as urban agglomerations with over 10 million inhabitants. A University of Bonn report defines megacities as metropolitan areas with a total population of 10 million or more people’.

At the last count, the world had 34 ‘megacities’ or cities with populations of more than 10 million. By 2035, the UN estimates there will be 48 megacities; by 2050, it is expected that two out of every three people will live in cities as populations grow, rural areas are absorbed by urban sprawl, and people continue to move in search of work, education and opportunity.

Understanding what it is like to live in these intense urban environments was the theme of the National Gallery of Victoria’s Megacities exhibition, an immersive multimedia exhibition in 2023 featuring about 500 images by 10 photographers in 10 megacities: Cairo, Dhaka, Jakarta, Delhi, São Paulo, Shanghai, Seoul, Lagos, Tokyo and Mexico City.

Some sources identify the Greater Tokyo Area as the largest megacity in the world, while others give the title to the Pearl River Delta or Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in China. Six countries have more than one megacity: China, India, Brazil, Japan, Pakistan and the United States. And there are megacities in Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Angola, the DRC; Russia, France, the UK, Turkey, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Argentina.

Megacities with a population of about 10 million include Bogotá in Colombia, Luanda in Angola, Nagoya in Japan, Taipei in Taiwan, and Zhengzhou in China.

In the world today there are more than 7,000 human languages, and of those, 83 different languages are each spoken by more than 10 million people worldwide. Greek, Hebrew and Swedish are among the languages spoken by 10 million people.

Countries with a population of about 10 million people include Greece and Hungary. The Russian invasion sent the Ukraine population plummeting by 10 million people.

The number of people living in England and Wales who were born outside the UK is put at 10 million people – and 10.7 million throughout the whole UK. So I could say I am one in 10 million. India, Poland, Pakistan, Romania and Ireland are the most common countries of birth among migrants now living in the UK.

Almost 10 million people in England are on NHS waiting lists for hospital appointments or treatment. Official figures in the UK show around 10 million people gave up on getting a GP appointment in a one-month period despite needing one. This could lead to countless missed or delayed diagnoses as people go without the care they need.

A recent report estimates that about 10 million people – 8.5 million adults and 1.5 million children – in England need support for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorders and other mental health difficulties. That is the equivalent of 20% of all adults and 15% of all children.

The Centre for Better Living reports 10 million people in England are classed as living in conditions that may create or worsen health conditions and reduce their quality of life.

Over 10 million people have been now displaced by conflicts in Sudan, nine million inside the country, according to figures from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

During the fires in Los Angeles in January 2025, a mistaken evacuation alert was sent to nearly 10 million, causing panic in Los Angeles county.

‘10 Million People’ is a song by British recording artist Example, released by Epic Records in 2014. The song was written and produced by Example, Fraser T Smith and Alf Bamford.

Example has said that ‘10 Million People’ was written ‘after watching a documentary on early ’90s rave culture. I found this video online where they were interviewing people at an illegal rave. The guy with the microphone said to one of the revellers, ‘Surely this whole rave thing is just a fad’. And the raver replied, ‘Well 10 million people can’t be wrong’.’

Well, of course they can be wrong. Think of the additional 10 million people who voted for Trump this time round than in 2016. After Trump completely mishandled a national pandemic, spewed out daily lies on Twitter and caged children, 10 million new voters opted to vote for the convict.

During the US election campaign last August, there were rumours that the Egyptian regime had donated $10 million in cash to Trump’s 2016 campaign. Could $10 million dollars buy 10 million votes? A dollar a vote? Surely not.

It just goes to show that, yes, 10 million people can be wrong.

Still, I am still very grateful to all 10 million readers and viewers of this blog to date.

Ten million people live in Greece, and Greek is spoken by 10 million people (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Updated: 13 January 2025, with total figures for 12 January 2025.

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