Patrick Comerford
This blog continues to reach more and more readers, and reached yet another staggering total at the weekend, with 17.5 million hits by late on Saturday night (18 October 2025). I first began blogging back in 2010, and the 17 million mark was passed three weeks ago (30 September 2025). Already, by 6 pm evening, there have been almost 500,000 hits (491,006) so far this month (October 2025).
The latest figure of 17.5 million is all the more staggering because about half of all those hits have been within the past 12 months. The rise in the number of readers has been phenomenal throughout this year, and the daily figures have been overwhelming at times. With this latest landmark figure of 17.5 million readers this weekend, I once again found myself asking questions such as:
• What do 17.5 million people look like?
• Where do we find 17.5 million people?
• What does £17.5 million, €17.5 million or $17.5 million mean?
• What would it buy, how far would it stretch?
It is estimated that 17.5 million people in Britain or 1-in-3 adults are impacted by the housing emergency, a term from the housing charity Shelter to describe living in substandard or hazardous housing, or housing that is unaffordable or unfit for purpose.
These 17.5 million people experience housing issues that include overcrowding, unsafe conditions, unaffordable costs, or instability. Specific groups, such as Black and Asian people, disabled people, and single mothers, face disproportionately higher housing difficulties, according to Shelter. Shelter has looked at how governments have failed to address the issue, leading to record levels of homelessness.
Black people are 70% more likely to be impacted, and Asian people are 50% more likely, compared to White people. Over half (54%) of people with a significant disability have no safe or secure home. A significant majority (65%) of single mothers do not have a secure home. Low-income households are 70% more likely to be impacted that those with higher earnings. The effects of living like this include increased long-term stress, anxiety and depression.
17.5 million metres works out at 17,500 km. A group of women in Worthing calling themselves the GoGirls from GoodOaks Homecare have taken on an epic 17.5 million metre row, or one million metres a month, in support of Saint Barnabas House hospice and Dementia UK.
The team at GoodOaks Sussex South are on a challenge to row 17.5 million metres – the equivalent distance from Worthing to Tasmania – to raise awareness and £20,000 in support of people living with dementia and their local hospice. These women are rowing every single day on Oak WaterRower machines, and the challenge is no mean feat – it could take over a year to complete. But they are determined to raise vital awareness and funds for those living with dementia and the carers who support them every day and to support their local hospice.
People in the UK dump 17.5 million gadgets each year. In the rush to get our hands on the latest technology, we throw away over 17.5 million gadgets every year, not disposing of old gadgets properly.
Old electronic equipment like mobile phones, computers and consoles are chucked in the bin and end up at landfill sites where they are buried in the ground. Harmful chemicals leak out into the soil from batteries and screens, damaging the environment. The environment charity Waste Watch advise using recycling services at phone shops, supermarkets and online services to get rid of them.
The Scottish Wildlife Trust has made the largest acquisition in its 60-year history, thanks to an anonymous £17.5 million gift. The private donation from an unnamed donor has allowed the Trust to buy the 18,824-acre Inverbroom estate near Ullapool in the North-West Highlands, which is larger in scale than the city of Dundee.
Both Bere Island at the mouth of Bantry Bay in south-west Co Cork, and the island of Aranmore off the coast of Co Donegal, have a land area of 17.5 sq km or 17.5 million sq metres.
Cambodia has a population of about 17.5 million people. Shenzhen, with 17.5 million people, is the third most populous city in China, after Shanghai and Beijing. Lagos has 17.5 million people, according to estimates by the Lagos State Government, although this number is disputed by the Nigerian Government.
I visited Saudi Arabia only very briefly in 1979, but it only opened for international tourism 40 years later, with about 17.5 million visitors in 2019. A significant portion of visitors to Saudi Arabia are were religious tourists or pilgrims, but the figure represents the total international arrival count. Since then, Saudi Arabia has become the second biggest tourist destination in the Middle East and had 116 million tourists last year (2024).
According to the Governor of Najaf in Iraq, 17.5 million pilgrims attend Arbaeen in Karbala this year (August 2025). In Shia Islam, Arbaeen commemorates the fortieth day following Ashura, the solemn anniversary of the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the third Shia Imam.
There are 17.5 million Mormons or members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), according to figures world-wide released in July 2025. Of that 17.5 million, more than 6.8 million live in the US.
17.5 million minutes is approximately 33.3 years.
Once again, this blog has reached another humbling statistic and a sobering figure, and once more I am left with a feeling of gratitude to all who read and support this blog and my writing.
A continuing and warming figure in the midst of all these statistics continues to be the one that shows my morning prayer diary reaches up to 80-90 people each day. It is 3½ years now since I retired from active parish ministry. But I think many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches averaged or totalled 560 to 630 people a week.
Today, I am very grateful to all the 17.5 million readers of this blog to date, and in particular I am grateful for the small and faithful core group among you who join me in prayer, reading and reflection each morning.
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