Record Breakers: Beijing Subway the World's Busiest

Beijing is the best. Again. Hooray. Today it was announced that Beijing Subway has overtaken Moscow's underground as the world's busiest. A record 10.27 million people used the Beijing subway last Friday, according to this China Daily article. That is a whole heap of people. (And, yes, we know that some commuters may have gone on more than one subway trip. Regardless, it is most definitely a heap of people.)

Just how many is 10.27 million people, though? Let us put it in perspective for you. Read on for some interesting facts.

• The number of Beijingers who rode the subway last Friday is just larger than the population of Haiti. We're not sure if any one of them is as famous as Wyclef Jean, though.
• South Sudan, the world's newest country, has two million fewer inhabitants than Friday's Beijing subway. population
• All of Norway could go to work and back on the Beijing subway in one day and it would not set a record.
• Each member of the world's smallest nation, the Vatican City, would have to make 12,950 journeys in a single day to get close to the Beijing subway's traffic record.

So the next time you're on the way to work and it feels like there is a whole nation traveling along with you, bear in mind that could be entirely feasible.