According to Forbes, as of early March, 2023 there were 2,640 billionaires worldwide, 735 in the U.S. alone. These billionaires have each amassed at least one billion dollars worth of assets, including stocks, real estate, and cash — many of them much more than that.
But just how big is one billion? A number that large is hard to conceive of. Well, it's 1,000,000,000; ten to the ninth power; one-thousand millions. That might help some…but not much. How big is a million? Hard to say when we're just imagining it in our head or looking at figures on a page.
Wealth is also fairly abstract. What can one dollar buy? And how is a dollar earned? And what about one billion dollars…
What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?
Let's break it down...
This is one pixel. Can you see it?
Here's 1,000 pixels:
This is 1,000,000 pixels:
Getting pretty big! You probably had to scroll a bit to see it all. Well, get ready for more scrolling, because this is what 1,000,000,000 pixels looks like.
Each tiny pixel represents a number between 1 and 1,000,000,000. Because the number one billion is so vast, even a straightforward visual representation can feel a bit hard to grasp. So, some some specific numbers are highlighted along the way, tied to real-world measures, to help keep you grounded as you go:
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