Saturday, October 24, 2026 · Played it? Here's how rare each one really was.
Online survey of 27,000+ people aged 15+ in 22 countries, fieldwork June 2015.
1 in 3 people 33.0%
33% of respondents owned a dog, making dogs the world's most popular pet. Cats came second at 23%.
Fun fact: In a class of 30, expect about 10 dog owners. In Argentina, Mexico and Brazil, 76% to 82% of people had a pet of some kind.
All Swiss watches exported, quartz and mechanical. COSC figures, accessed October 2026.
1 in 6.7 watches 15.0%
COSC, the Swiss chronometer testing office, says only about 15% of exported Swiss watches carry chronometer certification.
Fun fact: Among mechanical wristwatches only, it's about 39%, or 1 in 2.6. COSC tests more than 2 million timekeeping instruments a year.
Source: COSC (Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres), key figures (accessed Oct 2026)
One fresh, well-shuffled 52-card deck.
1 in about 21 hands 4.83%
An ace then a 10, J, Q or K, or the reverse: 2 × (4/52) × (16/51) = 4.83%.
Fun fact: At a 6-deck casino table it's almost the same, about 1 in 21. Play 60 hands an hour and you'd see about 3 blackjacks.
Source: Math: 2 × 4/52 × 16/51 = 32 ÷ 663
Complete aphantasia. 1,004 people in the UK and US, 2022 study.
1 in 125 people 0.8%
0.8% of the sample had no visual imagery whatsoever. A broader 3.9% had weak imagery (aphantasia).
Fun fact: A school of 500 would have about 4 people whose mind's eye is totally blank. Counting weaker cases too, it's about 1 in 26.
Source: Dance, Ipser & Simner, Consciousness and Cognition (2022)
UN estimate for 2024 versus a world population of nearly 8.2 billion.
1 in 11,357 people 0.0088%
The UN estimated 722,000 centenarians in 2024, against a world population of nearly 8.2 billion.
Fun fact: In Japan it's about 12 per 10,000 people, about 1 in 830. Fill a 50,000-seat stadium with random people and you'd find 4 or 5.
Source: Pew Research Center (Jan 2024), citing UN estimates; world population from UN News (July 2024)