As the most widely observed cultural holiday in the world, Christmas produces many things — joy, happiness, gratitude, reverence. And numbers. Lots of peculiar, often large, numbers. Here are a few to contemplate this season:
$39.50 – Average amount U.S. consumers spent on real Christmas trees in 2014.
$63.60 – Average amount U.S. consumers spent on fake Christmas trees in 2014.
33,000,000 – Number of real Christmas trees sold in the U.S. each year.
9,500,000 – Number of fake Christmas trees sold each year.
7 – Average growing time in years for a Christmas tree.
350 million – Number of Christmas trees currently growing on Christmas tree farms.
322.3 million – Current population of the United State.
$27.21 — The energy costs of lighting a six-foot Christmas tree, lit 12 hours a day for 40 days, decorated with various light types.
$1,200,000,000 – Estimated value of U.S. imports of Christmas tree ornaments from China between January and September 2015.
$24,500,000,000 – Estimated retail sales by the nation’s department stores (including leased departments) in December 2014. This represents an estimated 41.2 percent jump from the previous month when retail sales were estimated at 17.3 billion.
800,000 – Number of new employees hired to compensate for the holiday rush in 2015.
37.5 percent — Estimated percentage of charitable giving that occurs between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.
$830 – Average amount people in the U.S. estimated they’ll spent in on Christmas presents in 2015.
108,000,000 — Average number of homes Santa Claus has to visit on December 25 (assuming there is at least one “nice” child in each).
