Eighty20 Fact-a-Day

Est. in 2005 by the @Eighty20coza team, Fact-a-Day is a free daily fact about South African consumers and much more. Sign up here:

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

The latest estimate puts the observable universe at ~1 trillion (10^12) galaxies, based on direct Hubble imaging. Galaxies vary in size, but at an average of 100 billion stars each and ~1.6 planets per star (the Milky Way estimate), our best estimate for the number of planets is on the order of a septillion (10^24)!

Source: https://t.co/KlEjVgOLX9, https://t.co/H2gneXvX30

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

According to BrandMapp, available through Eighty20’s Data Portal, Planet Fitness draws ~2% of members regardless of income, while Virgin Active rises from 5% to 7% as income rises. The pricing tells the same story, as Virgin Active skews to higher earners, while Planet Fitness offers a variety of budget membership types.

*BrandMapp only measures adults in households with incomes above R10,000 per month

Analyse this data yourself on the Eighty20 Data Portal: https://t.co/dmGe1CG2Mx

Source: https://t.co/FlCQOata1Y

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

On 24 August 2006, the International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto from a planet to a "dwarf planet". Under their new definition, a full planet has to meet three conditions: it must orbit the Sun, be large enough to pull itself into a nearly round shape, and must be large enough to clear the neighbourhood surrounding its orbit . Pluto meets the first two but fails the third: it orbits within the Trans-Neptunian region, a region beyond Neptune full of other icy bodies of similar size, so it never became the dominant object in its own orbital path.

Source: https://t.co/lKd3Lca3VU

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

The insecticide-treated bed net is one of the most effective malaria tools ever deployed. 3 billion handed out globally since 2004. The catch: it also fishes. The fine mesh of the nets allowed fishers in Madagascar to catch up to 18kg a trip, capturing juvenile fish before they can reproduce.

Source: https://t.co/G5i4mTn851

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

A recent executive order in the US keeps MMR in the “recommended for all children” tier, but tells Americans to wait for standalone measles, mumps and rubella shots, products that do not yet exist. Meanwhile measles itself isn’t waiting: 2,295 confirmed US cases as at 21 July 2026 have already blown past all of 2025’s total of 2,289, itself the highest count since 1991.

Sources: https://t.co/KEdGZoYxnt, https://t.co/8vQ2uwwlCe

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

On the 2nd of May, MV Hondius, a Dutch-flagged cruise ship reported several cases of a severe respiratory illness. By the 17th of June public health authorities confirmed that all cases and close contacts had completed their isolation periods – ending the outbreak. In total, 12 cases had been confirmed with 3 deaths. Unlike many other viruses, human-to-human transmission of Hantavirus is very unlikely, and is only possible with the Andean strain of the virus.

Source: https://t.co/lPyakKom2c

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

In May 2026, routine wastewater surveillance in Cape Town detected two poliovirus strains - likely imported and vaccine-linked, with no paralysis cases. South Africa remains polio-free, having recorded its last wild case in 1989 and regained certified polio-free status after a 2022 regional scare.

Source: https://t.co/DfMPbHaxrs, https://t.co/7sDsei3A1J

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

According to AMPS and MAPS, available through Eighty20’s Data Portal, cinema attendance in South Africa has dropped dramatically in half a century. In 1975, 14% of adults had been to the cinema in the last 7 days. By 2015, only 3.5% of adults had been in the past month, despite the adult population nearly tripling from 14.2m to 38.3m. In 2025 that percentage had dropped to 1% of the population of 45.7m adults.

Analyse this data yourself on the Eighty20 Data Portal: https://t.co/BPF9DLcLDN

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

“The Polygamist,” a South African Netflix series about a wealthy Johannesburg family navigating a husband’s secret second family, racked up over 23 million views in its first month and hit the top 10 in 62 countries, reaching number one in nearly two dozen of them. It’s produced by Gugu Zuma-Ncube and Thuli Zuma, daughters of former president Jacob Zuma, and is based on a novel by Zimbabwean author Sue Nyathi.

Source: https://t.co/WNj4VUiHXI

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

Mr Bones 2: Back from the Past (2008), starring Leon Schuster, earned roughly R35 million at the South African box office, a local record that stood unbroken for more than a decade. To put that in perspective, the next biggest South African hits since then, including Shucks, Pay Back the Money! (2015) at around R29 million and 2025’s The Heart Is a Muscle at just over R11 million, still haven’t come close to catching it, meaning a comedy from 2008 remains the benchmark for local box office success nearly two decades later.

Source: https://t.co/oYBMzqsxiK

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

Jurassic Park (1993) grossed $978.16 million worldwide during its original theatrical run. Jurassic World Rebirth, the newest instalment in the franchise, released in 2025, has grossed roughly $861.9 million worldwide. In plain, unadjusted dollars, the 32-year-old original still out-earned the brand new film by more than $100 million, despite today’s higher ticket prices, larger global screen counts and a much bigger marketing push.

Source: https://t.co/9WeyjFbjOd

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

South African women hold 47.2% of senior management positions, the highest proportion in the world, yet retire with 21% less in savings than the men they outperform.

Source: https://t.co/UDrYzIDlMm, https://t.co/eYLnLMtlj7

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

Women drivers were classed as lower risk and could pay up to 40% less than men on motor insurance, with women involved in up to 20% fewer accidents than men. An entire insurer, First for Women, was built around this data point, and gender remains a legal, active rating factor in South African motor insurance today.

Source: https://t.co/QRH0G1YKtR, https://t.co/7KFMYb36d3

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

According to XDS Credit Data (Loan View, 2026 Q1, available via the Eighty20 Data Portal), women hold 66% of all student loans in South Africa, compared to 34% held by men, nearly two women for every one man borrowing to fund their own education.

Analyse this data yourself on the Eighty20 Data Portal: https://t.co/BPF9DLcLDN

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

According to MAPS, available through the Eighty20 Data Portal, South African women are unemployed at nearly double the rate of men, 28% versus 15%.

Analyse this data yourself on the Eighty20 Data Portal: https://t.co/H19ODdNo0Y

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

The pay gap shrinks dramatically with education: while the national gender pay gap sits at 23-35%, it narrows to as low as 5.9% among tertiary-educated South African workers.

Source: https://t.co/YRb96775Kj

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

According to MAPS, available through Eighty20’s Data Portal, nearly half (56%) of consumers believe it’s better to take a short-term loan than use personal savings, while only 16% disagree with this stance.

Analyse this data yourself on the Eighty20 Data Portal: https://t.co/BPF9DLcLDN

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

The world’s average household income is $9,733 a year, but the median (what a typical person actually earns) is only about $2,920. The ‘average’ looks 3x higher than reality because a small number of ultra-high earners drag the mean way up.

Source: https://t.co/ib0EENWdu2

[Eighty20 Fact-a-Day @SAfactaday]

In February 2026, a single Pokémon card, a PSA Gem Mint 10 “Pikachu Illustrator,” sold at auction for $16.492 million, making it the most expensive trading card of any kind ever sold. The seller, Logan Paul, had bought the same card for $5.275 million just five years earlier, in 2021.

Source: https://t.co/nD4guua4Q6