Patrick Comerford
I continue to be overwhelmed by the viewing and reading figures for this blog, although the figures have slowed down last month after record-breaking and overpowering statistics the previous month. These figures are about to reach 43 million this evening (4 July 2026), having passed 42 million ten days ago (24 June 2026), the 41 million mark two weeks earlier (9 June 2026), and the 40 million mark at the end of last month (28 May 2026).
These viewing and reading figures are overwhelming and this blog continues to reach a volume of readers I never expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago. At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 22 million hits or visitors in 2026 alone.
Half of all hits or reader figures have been within the past six months, with 21.5 million hits since 13 January 2026. I first began blogging back in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. Throughout this year and last, the daily figures continue to be overwhelming on many occasions. Of the ten days of busiest traffic on this blog, three were in May (1, 6 and 14 May 2026), three were the previous month (26, 29 and 30 April 2026), three were in March, and one was in February:
• 1,124,925 (1 May 2026)
• 525,719 (14 May 2026)
• 509,644 (29 April 2026)
• 344,003 (30 April 2026)
• 323,156 (27 March 2026)
• 322,038 (26 April 2026)
• 318,835 (6 May 2026)
• 318,307 (1 March 2026)
• 314,018 (28 February 2026)
• 301,449 (2 March 2026)
The daily average was over 187,000 throughout May, but that figure was distorted by the exceptionally high number of hits on three days. There were about 71,000 hits a day last month, with a total of 2,132,098 hits in June. Yet, ten years ago, in 2016, the daily average was around 1,000.
To put this latest figure of 43 million into perspective:
Polish is a West Slavic language primarily spoken in Poland and is the official language of the country, as well as the language of the Polish diaspora around the world. It is the sixth-most-spoken among languages of the European Union, and with a total or 43 million speakers, mainly in Poland and parts of Lithuania.
Around 43 million EU residents are foreign citizens. Almost 14 million of them are citizens of EU Member States other than the one in which they reside. The rest are citizens of non-EU countries. On average, 3.1% of the people who live in an EU country are from another EU country, and 6.4% have the nationality of a non-EU country.
The Paleogene Period (also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period 66 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Neogene Period 23.04 Ma.
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) killed at least 43 million people in 2021, equivalent to 75% of non-pandemic-related deaths globally. Cardiovascular diseases account for most NCD deaths, or at least 19 million deaths in 2021, followed by cancers (10 million), chronic respiratory diseases (4 million), and diabetes (over 2 million).
A woman sued a casino in New York in 2017 when it told her the slot machine displaying a $43 million jackpot was faulty and offered a steak dinner instead. Katrina Bookman took a selfie showing the machine saying ‘printing cash ticket $42,949,672.76’ at the Resorts World Casino. But she was escorted out and was told the next day she could have only $2.25, and the courts later ruled in favour of the casino.
Foreign travellers who visited Greece in 2025 reached 43.31 million, representing an increase of 6.4% compared to 40.69 million in 2024. This rise contributed to total travel receipts of €23.63 billion, up 9.4% year-on-year.
43 million square metres is 43,000 sq km, which is total size of Denmark proper, excluding Greenland and the Faroe Islands, making it the 133rd largest country in the world by land area.
43 million minutes add up to 81 years, 9 months, and 22 days (plus 2 hours and 40 minutes), based on standard time conversions. In other words, if this blog was getting only one hit a minute, it would take almost 82 years, from late 1944, to reach today’s figure of 43 million.
I retired from active parish ministry over four years ago, on 30 March 2022. These days, though, about 100-120 people on average continue to read my daily prayer diary on this blog each morning. I imagine many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 700 to 840 or more people each week.
This evening, I am truly grateful to the real readers among those 43 million hits on this blog to date, and in particular I am thankful for the faithful core group of 100-120 people who join me in prayer, reading and reflections each morning.
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