Unexpected data

The place where people live longer: 10 surprising state statistics

More bourbon barrels than people. A state so huge that even if cut in half, each piece would still be larger than Texas. And a place where you can search for diamonds… and keep whatever you find. It sounds made up, but every one of these things is real, and they’re all in the U.S. From the state that raises more than 200 chickens per resident each year to the one with more than 11,000 lakes, here are 10 surprising state facts that put some astonishing numbers into perspective.

We know Kentucky is the bourbon state. It’s not only the top producer in the US; it also produces about 95% of the world’s bourbon, so it’s hard to imagine just how much of it is aging across the state.

The numbers put it into perspective: Kentucky now has an incredible 16.1 million barrels of bourbon aging in its warehouses, plus more than 17 million barrels of aging spirits overall. With a population of roughly 4.5 million people, that means Kentucky has about 3.5 barrels of bourbon for every resident.

It’s no secret that Alaska is huge. But just how enormous is it? Let’s put its size into perspective.

Purchased by the United States from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million, Alaska covers about 663,300 square miles. Now imagine cutting the state in half: each half would still cover roughly 331,650 square miles. That’s larger than Texas, the second-largest state, at 268,569 square miles. In other words, Alaska is so enormous that even if you cut it in half, either half would still be the largest state in the country.

Minnesota’s famous nickname, "Land of 10,000 Lakes," sounds so impressive that many assume it’s an exaggeration, but it’s actually the opposite: the nickname doesn’t even count them all.

According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the state has 11,842 lakes that are 10 acres or larger, including Lake Superior, Lake of the Woods, and enormous inland lakes such as Red Lake. So the famous "10,000 Lakes" slogan actually undersells the true total. And if that number still isn’t impressive enough, there’s more: when smaller lakes down to 2.5 acres are included, Minnesota has more than 21,000 lakes.

Imagine a place where you can find a diamond and take it home, almost like picking fruit in a field. It sounds like a fantasy, but this place actually exists, and it’s in Arkansas.

Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, is the only public diamond-producing site in the world where visitors can search a 37-acre plowed field and keep whatever diamonds or other gemstones they find. The field is the eroded surface of an ancient volcanic pipe that brought diamonds up from deep within the Earth about 100 million years ago. There, visitors find an average of one or two diamonds a day, with more than 37,000 diamonds registered since the site became a state park in 1972.

They say everything is bigger in Texas. And when it comes to the size of the state, that’s no exaggeration.

Texas covers about 268,596 square miles, making it the largest state in the contiguous US. But its size becomes even more impressive when you compare it with Europe: Texas is larger than any individual country in Western Europe and every European country except Russia. For comparison, Spain covers about 195,380 square miles, France about 213,011, and Portugal just 35,608; the Lone Star State still beats every one of them.

What would you do if you were surrounded by 200 chickens? In Delaware, that wouldn’t sound so crazy.

Delaware has just over 1 million human residents, but the state’s farms can have up to 61 million broiler chickens being raised at once. And because broilers grow quickly and are typically processed after just a few weeks, the flocks are constantly being replaced. Over the course of a year, Delaware farms raise more than 240 million broiler chickens, more than 200 chickens for every resident.

California is not only one of the largest states in population and land area; it also has an economy that rivals those of entire countries.

California’s gross domestic product (GDP) is about $4.2 to $4.3 trillion. To put that into perspective, the median state GDP is only around $330 billion. If California were a sovereign country, its economy would rank among the five largest in the world, putting it in the same league as economic powerhouses such as Germany and Japan. But where does all this come from? California is home to Silicon Valley and tech giants such as Apple, while Hollywood is home to one of the world’s biggest entertainment and media industries. And there’s more: the state is the top agricultural-producing state in the US, generating billions of dollars in crops and livestock every year.

If you’re someone who enjoys gazing at the night sky and wondering what’s out there, Arizona is a great place to do it.

The state is home to one of the world’s largest concentrations of ground-based telescopes, including some of the most powerful and famous observatories on Earth. A spectacular example is the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) on Mount Graham, which uses two 27.6-foot mirrors working together to provide the light-gathering power of a single 38.7-foot telescope. Its images can be exceptionally sharp, at times rivaling or even surpassing those from the Hubble Space Telescope. But why Arizona? High elevations and dry desert air reduce atmospheric distortion, while communities such as Tucson and Flagstaff have strict light-pollution regulations. The result is some of the clearest and darkest skies in the country.

If you like having plenty of space to yourself, Wyoming might be your kind of place. Despite being the 10th-largest state by total land area, Wyoming has only about 589,000 residents, making it the least populous state in the US.

To put that into perspective, several individual American cities have more people than the entire state, including Seattle (about 793,000), Denver (about 747,000), and Washington, DC (about 699,000). In fact, Wyoming has fewer residents than roughly 30 of the most populous US cities.

The average life expectancy in the US is about 79 years, but in Hawaii, people tend to live noticeably longer.

Hawaii residents have a life expectancy of roughly 81.7 to 82.6 years, about 3 years longer than the national average. Although the numbers vary among the state’s different ethnic groups, the reasons are likely a combination of factors, including a diet rich in fresh seafood, vegetables, and lean meats, along with a lifestyle shaped by the islands themselves. The mild climate and clean air encourage people to spend more time outdoors and stay physically active, while the lack of harsh winters means residents avoid the physical strain of extreme cold for much of the year.

Icons of global music

9 Legendary bands & musicians from around the world

What they’ve done and how they’ve made people feel seems unreal. If it hadn’t happened, they might sound like myths. Instead, we have been lucky enough to experience their art and realise that magic does exist, and you can hear it. Let’s uncover what these 10 bands and musicians have in common and what has made them legends. After all, they’ve made people cry, fall in love, and dance with hope.

Born on December 12, 1915, in Hoboken, New Jersey, Frank Sinatra went on to become one of the American singers who revolutionised popular music by transforming the role of the vocalist into that of a storyteller. He used the microphone in a way no one had done before, pushing song lyrics to a whole other level.

Sinatra was also essential in the creation of what we now know as Concept Albums, sequencing songs so they’d have a cohesive emotional story to convey, rather than focusing on standalone one-hit wonders.

The Beatles led a global pop revolution in the 1960s. This band from the United Kingdom ignited an absolute transformation in music, fashion, and overall youth culture. They originally came from Liverpool, where they played at small bars, but over time, they became so well known internationally that there was nowhere they could go without being recognised.

When John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison toured the United States, they became a sensation overnight. Beyond the music, The Beatles also found themselves at the forefront of a cultural movement that embraced ideas of love, peace, and the expansion of human consciousness.

With her unmatched vocal control and technique, Whitney Houston became one of the great American voices, known for her perfect pitch and extraordinary precision. You can hear this in one of her most relatable and memorable songs, titled I Will Always Love You.

Houston was born on August 9th, 1963, in Newark, New Jersey, and was also a next-level songwriter. Alongside her unique voice, she had incredible charisma, and her ability to transmit warmth from the stage made her an unforgettable performer.

The Rolling Stones are considered the longest-running rock band in the world, formed in 1962 in London, Great Britain. Known for being unapologetically rebellious and rigorously authentic to their sound, they created the blues-infused rock sound that defined the genre in the late 20th century.

With worldwide anthems such as ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards achieved what only a few can dream of: becoming global icons of youth culture, nonconformity, and anti-establishment confrontation.

Stevie Wonder was born blind due to premature birth in Saginaw, Michigan, on May 13th, 1950, but that didn’t stop him. On the contrary, he was a child prodigy, having mastered the piano, harmonica, and drums by age 10. Not only that: three years later, he became the first thirteen-year-old ever to reach the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with his song titled ‘Fingertips (Pt. 2)’.

Stevie was a monumental American artist, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist with incredible talent, who also revolutionised music as a whole as a social activist.

The legendary Swedish quartet formed in Stockholm in 1972 skyrocketed to international fame after winning the Eurovision Song Contest with ‘Waterloo’ in 1974. Following that, they continuously conquered global charts with songs such as ‘Mamma Mia’ (1975) and ‘Dancing Queen’ (1976).

The band members, who were also two sets of couples, and whose initials determined the name of the band — Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad — revolutionized pop music by blending it with european folk melodies, rock and disco, at the same time that they presented what seemed as purely ‘happy’ pop songs, injected with a deep, Scandinavian sense of melancholy.

U2 is an Irish band led by the singer known as Bono. They became legendary because they transformed their punk roots into rock anthems about complex political situations in Ireland, alongside universal human emotions.

In many songs, like In the Name of Love they championed human rights, solidifying them as a band with a socio-political pulse. Through Bono’s passionate delivery, they transformed large stadium shows into moving concerts.

Queen, another band from Great Britain, represented the pinnacle of theatrical rock, characterised by dramatic arrangements, flawless musicianship, and stadium-shaking presentations.

The band was formed in 1970, and the lineup included Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon. They broke musical boundaries by defying all expectations of what classical rock should be. Instead, they created a sound that blended rock, pop, and classical elements into something no one had seen before: a fearlessly flamboyant musical spectacle.

Bob Marley, who came from a humble neighbourhood in Kingston, Jamaica, made Reggae a worldwide phenomenon with his band The Wailers.

His unique Caribbean, Ska-infused rhythms and soulful vocals were combined with powerful messages of empowerment, resistance, and Rastafarian spirituality. They achieved global resonance with songs such as One Love (1965) and Redemption Song (1980).