• In one of three countries, less than three quarters of teachers are trained to national standards, resulting in 130 million children enrolled in school who are not even learning the basics. Source: globalcitizen.org
  • There are over 6,000 languages spoken in the world today, many of which are spoken by fewer than a few hundred people. The top 10 or 12 languages however make up the vast majority of all of the speakers in the world. Source: https://omniglot.com/
  • When 174 world leaders signed the Paris Agreement on Earth Day in 2016 at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, it was the largest number of countries ever to come together to sign anything on a single day, according to the UN. The agreement aimed to combat climate change and accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed to strengthen the global climate effort.
  • Because of pollution, the Earth’s ozone layer has suffered a lot. That’s bad news for everyone, since the fragile gas layer protects our planet and shields us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. Fortunately, climate change experts believe that the ozone layer will fully heal within 50 years, according to a 2018 report from the United Nations.
  • Some countries are hundreds of years old, while others can trace their nation’s history back for thousands of years. But South Sudan in North Africa just gained its independence from Sudan in 2011, which currently makes it the youngest country in the world.
  • If the Earth’s time zones were each one hour apart, then we would have 24 times zones, which sounds pretty straightforward. However, the situation is a little more complicated than that. Since many time zones only differ by 30 or 45 minutes, they don’t fit into a neat and tidy 24 hour span, which means that there are more than 24, though it’s hard to say exactly how many.
  • The British royal family may be the most famous royal family on the planet, but there are still plenty of other nobles out there. In total, there are 28 royal families who rule over a total of 43 countries around the world, including Japan, Spain, Swaziland, Bhutan, Thailand, Monaco, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Liechtenstein.
  • According to a study developed for National Geographic in 2011, the world’s “most typical” person is right-handed, makes less than $12,000 per year, has a mobile phone, and doesn’t have a bank account.
  • As of 2019, the overall human population is estimated to be more than 7.7 billion people. And if you want to watch that increase in real time, you can tune into the World Population Clock, which shows the upticks and downticks as babies are born and other people die. You can also see the current populations of different countries, including China (1,420,000,000+), India (1,368,000,000+), and the U.S. (329,000,000+).
  • During his lifetime between 1162 and 1227, Genghis Khan fathered countless children. And while we may never know exactly how many offspring the leader of the Mongol Empire had, scientists now believe that around 1 in every 200 men—AKA 16 million people—are a direct descendant of his, according to a 2003 historical genetics paper.
  • There are estimated to be 72 million deaf people around the world. There are also about 300 different sign languages—including American Sign Language and International Sign Language—as well as 41 countries that recognize them as an official language.
  • With each generation that passes, more and more people are learning how to read, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). These days, around 86 percent of adults around the world are able to enjoy a book. UNESCO also explained that their data shows “remarkable improvement among youth in terms of reading and writing skills and a steady reduction in gender gaps. Fifty years ago, almost one-quarter of youth lacked basic literacy skills compared to less than 10 percent in 2016.”
  • Do you use Facebook? If you don’t, you’re among a number that gets increasingly smaller every day. In fact, 2 billion active users have an account on the social media platform, which is more than the population of the United States, China, and Brazil combined. Facebook’s co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted about the milestone, saying, “We’re making progress connecting the world, and now let’s bring the world closer together.”
  • Every tonne of recycled paper saves 17 trees. Forest cover is declining nowadays at a faster pace. Adding to this fact, I would also like to add the fact that, it requires around 450 years for a plastic bottle to degrade. If you are worried about the environment and want to do your part, then just RECYCLE the paper. Source: Icytales.com
  • You might find yourself saying “the” before various countries and place names when referring to them thanks to grammar and common pronunciation, which is why we say the United States or the Maldives. However, only The Gambia and The Bahamas formally include “the” in their nation’s names.
  • If the sun were hollow, you could fit a million Earths inside it, according to Cornell’s Ask an Astronomer. That’s because the sun has a radius 100 times that of the Earth!

Pollution is one of the main environmental problems being discussed today. It has killed over 100 million people. In every school or college, it’s being thought upon, and the government is trying to combat this in every possible way. Fewer people know that it’s the increasing pollution, which is leading the next generation to a weaker immune system and making them vulnerable to having various diseases. Source:  icytales.com

Last modified: April 19, 2021

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