Patrick Comerford
This blog continues to reach more and more readers, and has reached yet another staggering today, with 18.5 million hits by shortly after 12 noon today (27 November 2025) and more than half a million readers so far this month, with over 550,000 hits before lunchtime today.
I first began blogging back in 2010, and the 18 million was reached earlier this month (2 November 2025), having passed the 17.5 million mark last month (18 October) and the 17 million mark less than three weeks earlier (30 September 2025).
The latest figure of 18.5 million is all the more staggering because half of all those hits have been within the past 12 months, since November 2024. 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 18.5 million readers today, I once again find myself asking questions such as:
• What do 18.5 million people look like?
• Where do we find 18.5 million people?
• What does £18.5 million, €18.5 million or $18.5 million mean?
• What would it buy, how far would it stretch, how much of a difference would that much make to people’s lives?
Senegal in west Africa and Chile in South America have 18.5 million inhabitants. Cities with a population of around 18.5 million – depending on who is doing the counting – include the urban area of Beijing and Bangkok, as well as the New York-Newark area and Cairo, each with about 18.5 million inhabitants.
By mid-2024, India was the leading country of origin for international migrants, with a diaspora of 18.5 million people living abroad.
The US is the third-most populated country in the world, with over 330 million people, and its population is expected to grow by another 18.5 million in the next 10 years.
Knossos, the Minoan palace near Iraklion, is the most lucrative archaeological site in Crete, contributing 60% of the overall income from all of Crete’s museums and archaeological sites. Statistics for 2023 show ticket sales there have reached all-time highs, and the island’s museums and archaeological sites brought in more than €18.5 million. Knossos is the most valuable cultural asset in Crete, bringing in €11 million from 1 million tourists, the second-highest annual visitor total behind the Acropolis in Athens.
A record-breaking 18.5 million pilgrims performed Hajj and Umrah in Saudi Arabia last year. Of these 18.5 million pilgrims, about 16.9 million performed Umrah and 1.6 million performed Hajj.
Wetherspoon’s project to convert a row of derelict houses in Camden Street, Dublin, into the Keavan’s Port hotel and pub was estimated to cost €18.5 million.
Aston Villa announced the signing of Bertrand Traore from Lyon in September. The deal is worth €18.5 million in transfer fees, plus a further €2 million in add-ons.
The Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa has an area of 18.5 million square metres or 18.5 sq km.
The Agios Georgios to Notos Beach trail in Corfu is an 18.5 km (18.5 million metres) out-and-back hiking route and takes about 3.5 hours to complete.
18.5 million minutes adds up to 35.174500 years, so if this blog had one hit a minute, it would take over 35 years to reach today’s landmark figure of 18.5 million hits.
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 continues to reach up to 80-90 people each day. It is over 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 18.5 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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