Concrete is the most widely used human-made material in the world — and it’s the second most consumed substance on Earth after water. Every year, enough concrete is poured to build a 6-foot-wide, 2-inch-thick sidewalk around the equator… twice!
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That fact comes from widely cited data by the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) and research from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Here’s the breakdown:
- Concrete is the second most consumed substance after water: This is a well-documented statistic in environmental and construction industry reports. UNEP and GCCA both reference this in their global materials usage studies.
- Enough concrete is poured annually to build a 6-foot-wide, 2-inch-thick sidewalk around the Earth twice: This stat is based on average annual global concrete production — which exceeds 30 billion tons — and was popularized by sources like the U.S. Geological Survey and engineering publications that use it to contextualize the scale of global concrete use.