10 Incredibly Terrifying Facts I Learned From Reddit

Culture

When you ask the world "What are some statistics I really don't want to know," Reddit was able to come up with more than a few shockingly accurate facts.

1. World War II did not end well for Soviet Russia

80% of Soviet males born in 1923 didn't survive past 1945. As it turns out, they kind of got the short end of the stick in World War II.

2. Big Fish, Big Problems

Since the 1950s, humans have killed off about 90% of the world's large predatory fish. We're attempting to save the last straggling 10%, according to Wikipedia.

3. Veteran suicide rates

18 veterans who fought in our military kill themselves every day. That means more soldiers actually die from suicide than on active duty and fighting in combat. (Although this does show the incredibly low rates of combat death in our military.)

4. Hannibal Lecter could be out there

"A very conservative estimate is that there are between 35-50 active serial killers in the United States" at any given time, says former chief of the FBI's elite Serial Crime Unit John Douglas.

35-50 active serial killers, and they all seem to be hiding out in Miami.

5. Allen, South Dakota, is the Third World in the First World

Allen, South Dakota is the poorest town in America and is essentially a Third World country. The median income for a family in Allen is less than $4,000 per year. It is part of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where a population of between 28,000-40,000 almost exclusively have no electricity, telephone lines, running water, or sewage. Infant mortality is five times the national average, while life expectancy is among the shortest for any group in the entire western hemisphere (about 48 for males).

6. People breed like rabbits

In the year 1804 the world human population reached 1 billion.

In the year 1927 the world human population reached 2 billion. 123 years to reach an extra 1 billion people.

In the year 1960 the world human population reached 3 billion. 33 years.

In the year 1974 the world human population reached 4 billion. 14 years.

In the year 1987 the world human population reached 5 billion. 13 years.

In October of 1999 the world human population reached 6 billion. 12 years.

In 2011, the world human population reached 7 billion. Just under 12 years.

7. The folks at NASA know how to budget

The US spends $660 billion a year on the military. The total the U.S. has spent on NASA in its 55-year history is $526 billion.

8. Who's your daddy?

About one in twenty people you know do not have the biological father they think they have. This includes you.

9. Just how much you could buy with American adventures in the Middle East

The amount of American dollars spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (about $1.467 Trillion) could have paid for solar panels on the roof of every house in America (about 132 million households) ... saving Americans billions in energy costs and helping save the planet. 

10. Throw some skin on the barbie, mate

Two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by the time they are 70. That’s 66% less fabulous accents in the world.