Hard Numbers: Global vaccine good news, rampant ransomware, 5G growing fast, Spanish wind power
December 17, 2021
Paige Fusco
56.6: As of December 17, 56.6 percent of the global population has received at least one COVID vaccine shot. We sometimes don't realize how big of an achievement this is from just a year ago, when frontline health workers were the first to get jabs.
11: A ransomware attack occurred every 11 seconds in 2021, according to one estimate. Earlier this year, hackers carried out their most famous attack to date against Colonial Pipeline, which supplies almost half of the oil and gas consumed in the US Eastern Seaboard.
540 million: Global 5G connections are expected to reach 540 million by the end of the year, according to a new report. That's more than double the amount in all of 2020.
23.1: Wind became Spain's top energy source this year, accounting for 23.1 percent of the total energy mix and overtaking nuclear for the first time. Half of the country's energy now comes from renewable sources, which the government hopes will help bring down sky-high power prices in 2021.