Soap Facts
Imagine life without soap! It is critical to our health and humanity, a vital component of our ability to keep our families safe. Here at the Global Soap Project, we celebrate everything about it! Here are some of the facts and figures that keep us motivated:
1.4 million deaths can be prevented each year by handwashing with soap
The World Bank has estimated that hygiene is the most cost-effective health intervention available.
Children under 5 who wash with soap can reduce their risk of pneumonia by 46%
The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control actively promote handwashing to save lives by preventing illness and infectious diseases
Lack of access to WASH contributes to two of the three leading killers of children under the age of five in the world – pneumonia, which can be prevented by good handwashing and better hygiene; and diarrhea, which comes from drinking unsafe water and lack of sanitation. With good quality water, sanitation, and hygiene, children’s lives can be saved.
Handwashing by birth attendants before delivery reduces mortality rates by 19%.
Handwashing with soap can reduce diarrhea morbidity by 44%
1/3 of the worlds soap is used by the U.S
10 Billion pounds of soap are produced each year
Murphy’s Oil Soap is used to clean elephants
The average person encounters 100 chemicals before breakfast
We absorb 60% of the substances we put on our skin
Ivory Soap was designed not to float
There are 4.6 million hotel rooms in the U.S
2.6 million bars of soap are discarded daily by the hotel industry in the U.S. alone
The largest soap bubble was created on October 9th, 2005 and measured 105.4 cubic feet. If you could fill it with baseballs it would hold 13.627 of them.
October 15th is Global Handwashing Day
