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:
$74.70 – Average amount U.S. consumers spent on real Christmas trees in 2015.
$98.70 – Average amount U.S. consumers spent on fake Christmas trees in 2015.
34,500,000 – Number of real Christmas trees sold in the U.S. each year.
10,000,000 – 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.
326.4 million – Current population of the United States.
$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.
$1,500,000,000 – Estimated value of U.S. imports of Christmas tree ornaments from China between January and September 2016.
$22,700,000,000 – Estimated retail sales by the nation’s department stores (including leased departments) in December 2016. This represents a decrease of $1 billion in retail sales from December of the previous year.
42.7 percent — Estimated percentage of charitable giving that occurs between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.
$906 – Average amount people in the U.S. estimated they’ll spend on Christmas presents in 2017.
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).
