12 Christmas facts and stats

For most of us, the very word ‘Christmas' evokes an image of a colourful, joyful and special time - a season to give and share with family and friends. It’s so familiar to many of us that we probably think we know all there is to know about this holiday. But think again, there may still be more to discover.

Christmas is celebrated in some way by nearly every country and billions of people across the globe. It’s both a religious and a cultural/secular holiday, incorporating not only the birth of Christ but also many non-religious traditions, such as gift-giving, the decoration of trees, feasting and a general sentiment of peace and good will. The figures and facts about Christmas can vary widely from one culture to another - let’s take a look.

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WorldRemit Content Team

6 mins readUpdated
A young child looking at a Christmas tree

Christmas Fact #1 - 25 December was probably not Jesus’s birthday

It seems unlikely Jesus was really born on December 25. The Bible doesn’t mention his exact birthday, and the Nativity story gives conflicting clues. For instance, the presence of shepherds and their sheep suggest he was probably born in the spring.

So why did church officials at the end of the third century settle on 25 December? It’s most likely they wanted the date to coincide with existing pagan festivals honouring Saturn (the Roman god of agriculture) and Mithra (the Persian god of light). In that way, it became easier to convince Rome’s subjects to accept Christianity as the empire’s official religion.

The celebration of Christmas spread throughout the Western world over the next several centuries, but many Christians continued to view Epiphany (6 January) and Easter as more important. Some countries still have celebrations on 6 January, like Spain, the Philippines and France.

Christmas Fact #2 - Christmas eats up energy

It’s hard to imagine Christmas without the twinkling of lights in our homes, restaurants and shops. But this burst of colour requires a great deal of more energy to be used at a time when we’re all becoming more cost-conscious with the soaring energy prices.

Of course, some countries really like to bump it up and switch on more than others. Back in 2015, the lights in the US required a massive 6.63 billion kilowatts of power.

The UK uses almost £66 million of electricity on Christmas day alone – that’s 402Gwhs of electricity, or to put it another way, enough electricity to light the Eiffel Tower for 50 years! And, according to Uswitch research, in 2020, ​​Christmas lights added £79 million to the UK’s energy bills.

That doesn’t even include the rest of December where the average home in the UK uses an extra £50 worth of energy on things like charging toys or settling in for a movie marathon.

With all this alarming Christmas data on energy, it’s no wonder nations across Europe are urging people to turn off their Christmas lights this winter. They’re looking to save energy as Russia clamps down on gas flows to the continent.

It's just one of the ways that countries including Germany, Portugal, Denmark, and Austria are trying to reduce power consumption during the festive season and winter.

Christmas Fact #3 - The tallest Christmas tree ever displayed

They say they do everything bigger and better in the US. And it seems Christmas trees are no exception. The world's tallest cut Christmas tree was a 67.36 m (221 ft) Douglas fir, which was erected and decorated at Northgate Shopping Center, Seattle, Washington,, in December 1950. Imagine reaching to put the fairy on the top of that!

Christmas Fact #4 - An average of 694.67$ is spent at Christmas around the world

The cost of Christmas is very much on our minds at the moment - bringing with it real worry in a time of inflation. To understand the costs involved, WorldRemit has run a Cost of Christmas Study, two years in a row. This year, we have found that many families around the world should expect to spend up to 156% of their monthly income on Christmas.

Of the 23 countries surveyed this year, developing economies like the Philippines, Uganda and Nigeria are likely to spend more than 100% of their total monthly income on Christmas, while in the United Kingdom, Christmas will cost 65% more than it did in 2021.

We broke costs down into food, decorations and gifts - and found the priority was quite different for different countries. Here are some of our key findings.

  • The top spending countries are Lebanon, Canada and Germany

  • Ghana and Uganda spend the highest percentage of their total spend on food.

  • When it comes to decoration, Guatemala spends 65%, and the Dominican Republic spends 77% of their total spend making their homes look festive.

  • Gifts account for just over 70% of the total Christmas spend in Germany and the US.

Christmas Fact #5 - Rudolph began life as marketing campaign

The story of Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer began in 1939 with a Chicago copywriter named Robert May.  Robert worked in the ad department of Montgomery Ward, a department store chain. Every year, they bought and gave away free Christmas colouring books, but they decided that year to create their own. They asked May to write it and make it all about an animal.

Remembering his daughter’s love for the deer at the Lincoln Park Zoo, May invented a story all about a little reindeer with a shiny nose. The book was an instant hit.  Montgomery Ward gave out 2.4 million copies, and only stopped issuing it afterwards because of wartime restrictions on paper. When they resumed in 1946, it was even more popular.

Christmas Fact #6 - We waste a lot at Christmas

Christmas is a time when we’re feeling a little more relaxed with our wallet and so buy and consume more than usual. And because of this, it’s a time when we waste more than usual. For example, the Bank of England reports that the spending habits change in the UK in the run-up to Christmas, and in December the average UK household spends 29% more than is usual. The amount wasted at home mirrors that closely. Household waste typically increases by around 30% during the festive period, making it one of the most wasteful times of the year.

And as it’s a time of feasting, food contributes most to the waste. The UK typically wastes 20% of the food it buys; so 1 out of every 5 bags of food purchased find their way to the bin. At Christmas this increases - as the UK typically buys 20% more food than usual, so the proportion wasted is larger.

The secret to avoiding this food waste is to plan ahead:

  • Free up some space in your freezer in the run up to Christmas. Freezers are such a useful tool, acting as a pause button and giving you more time to eat the food you’ve bought.

  • Planning your meals in advance can help to prevent food going ‘out of date’ before you have a chance to eat it. Also consider how you'll store and use any surplus food. Use a portion calculator to help you determine how much food to buy, prepare, cook and serve. This will help you to avoid unplanned leftovers.

Christmas Fact #7- KFC is a Christmas tradition in Japan

Every Christmas season an estimated 3.6 million Japanese families treat themselves to fried chicken from the American fast-food chain, in what has become a national tradition. Why? It all goes back to the 1970s and a man called Takeshi Okawara, who was the manager of the first KFC in the country. He had the idea of a “party barrel” to be sold on Christmas. He had the idea after overhearing a couple of foreigners in his store talk about how they missed having turkey for Christmas.

In 1974, KFC took the marketing plan national, calling it Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii, or Kentucky for Christmas. It took off quickly, and so did Okawara, who climbed through the company ranks and served as president and CEO of Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan from 1984 to 2002.

Christmas Fact #8- The largest nativity scene can be found in Spain

According to Guinness World Records, the largest nativity figurines measure 54.89 m (180 ft 1 in) and was achieved by Ayuntamiento de Alicante in Alicante, Spain, on 1 December 2020.

Jesus, lying in his manger, measures 3.32 m (10 ft 10.7 in) high, 3.31 m (10 ft 10.3 in) wide and 4.08m (13 ft 4.6 in) long. Joseph measures 18.05 m (59 ft 2.6 in) high, 4.70 m (15 ft 5.0 in) wide and 3.07 m (42 ft 10.6 in) long. Mary measures 10.59 m (34 ft 8.9 in) high 3.49m (11 ft 5.4 in) wide and 4.28m (13 ft 4.6 in) long.

Christmas Fact #9 - Chocolate and candy are the most popular US gifts

ccording to swns digital US residents have something of a sweet tooth when it comes to giving gifts. Here are the top recurring gifts in the US:

1. Candy/chocolate                           47%

2. Something homemade               44%

3. A gift card/money                        46%

4. Makeup products                          37%

5. Books                                                34%

6. Self-care items                              33%

7. A toothbrush                                   32%

8. Skin products                                  31%

9. Underwear                                       30%

10. Pyjamas                                          30%

Christmas Fact #10 - Silent night is the most recorded Christmas song

The lyrics to Silent Night were written by Joseph Mohr in German in 1816, then put to music 2 years later by Franz Xaver Gruber. This beautiful festive song’s claim to fame is that it’s the most recorded Christmas song in the modern era of the holiday’s substantial oeuvre.

Christmas Fact #11 - there’s an optimal number of baubles for your tree

So you’ve found the perfect tree and placed it in the most prominent spot. Now it’s time to hang those baubles. But just not any amount - there is, in fact, an optimal amount depending on the size of your tree. For example, for a standard 5 foot, full-figured tree, about 74 baubles with fairy lights should do the trick. Find out how many you should hang using this useful calculator.

Christmas Fact #12 - Not all countries open gifts on Christmas morning

In the UK and US it’s traditional to open Christmas gifts on 25 December. But it’s not a tradition that everyone around the world follows. In fact, there are numerous countries in which families open their presents on Christmas Eve.

While these countries are not located solely in Europe, they do include many Eastern European and Scandinavian nations. Some of the European countries in which families unwrap their gifts on 24 December are Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Although people in these countries open gifts on the same date, they do not do so at the same time. Some nations wait until the sun sets to open gifts, while others unwrap the presents after dinner, or at midnight.

Some countries also open presents in January on Epiphany (6 January). This custom is mostly observed in predominantly Catholic countries, such as Spain and Italy.

We’re here to help you at Christmas - that’s a fact!

With all that Christmas data on the cost of this festive season - we know that it’s an expensive time for you, your family and your friends. So, you may want to support your loved ones by sending money home to help cover the costs.

We’re there to help. WorldRemit allows you to send fast, low cost, secure money transfers, 24/7, 365 days a year on our app or website.

We wish you a very Happy Christmas!

The contents of this blog does not constitute legal or financial advice and is provided for general information purposes only. If you require specific legal and/or fiance advice, you should contact a specialist lawyer or financial advisor. Information true at time of publishing.

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