The vast scale of China’s landmass and its population means that China produces and consumes copious amounts of natural resources and food.

It also means that China houses a large chunk of the world’s billionaires.

We dug around to find some interesting statistics. Did you know that China’s railway lines could loop around earth twice?

Here are some interesting facts about the world’s second-largest economy, which could soon eclipse the U.S. to become the world’s largest this year.

Twenty million trees are cut every year to meet Chinese demand for chopsticks.

China goes through 80 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks a year. The chopsticks are 1cm-by-0.5 centimeters (cms) and 20 cms long and can cover Tiananmen Square over 360 times. The trees that are cut down are around 20 years old.

China’s railway lines could loop around Earth twice

The northern ice cap creeps over earth.

China’s railway length, under operation, totals 93,000 kilometers. The Earth, meanwhile,  is 40,075 kilometers in circumference.

China’s coal reserves weigh as much as 575 million blue whales

At 115 billion tons, China has the world’s third-largest proven coal reserves. A blue whale, the largest animals to have lived, are believed to weigh 200 tons or more. China accounts for 46% of global coal production and 49% of global coal consumption

Smoking kills 1 million Chinese every year.

That’s more than the entire population of Cyprus (~865,000). The World Health Organization estimates that by 2050, smoking will kill 3 million Chinese each year.

China’s natural gas reserves are equivalent to about 1.24 billion Olympic-size swimming pools.

At 109.3 trillion cubic feet, China has the world’s 13th-largest proven natural gas reserves. An Olympic-size swimming pool reportedly has a volume of 88,000 cubic feet.

China’s annual instant-noodle consumption is enough to feed all of Algeria three meals a day for a year

China consumed 42.5 billion packs of instant noodles in 2011. Algeria has a population of 38.7 million people.

China eats about 5,200 Eiffel towers’ worth of pork a year.

A vendor cuts up a piece of pork in her stall at a market in Beijing, January 11, 2013.

China consumed 52 million tons of pork in 2012 and 51.6 million tons in 2011. The Eiffel Tower is reported to weigh 10,000 tons.

Over 30 million people in China live in caves: that’s more than the population of Saudi Arabia.

About 8 billion pairs of socks are made annually in China’s Datang District, also known as sock city.

Datang, Zhuji produces 8 billion pairs of socks a year, which is equivalent to about a pair of socks per person on the planet in 2011.

China’s suicide rate is more than double that of the U.S.

China has a suicide rate of about 22.2 deaths per 100,000 people. This compares to 10.3 deaths per 100,000 people in the U.S.

Half of the world’s pigs reside in China.

China is the world’s largest pork consumer, so it’s no surprise that 475 million, or half of the world’s pigs reside there

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