People in North America use about 50 pounds (22.7 kg) of toilet paper per person per year, which is 6 pounds (about 2.7 kg) more than the amount of toilet paper used per person per year in Western Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa combined. Western Europe uses the next most toilet paper per person, at about 30 pounds (13.6 kg), followed by Latin America, which uses about 9 pounds (4.1 kg) per person per year. People in Asia and Africa use the least per year, with Asians using a little less than 4 pounds (1.8 kg), and those in Africa using about 0.88 pounds (about 0.4 kg) per person per year.
More facts about toilet paper :
- Americans spend more than $5.7 billion US Dollars on toilet paper each year.
- Toilet paper originally was marketed as a medicinal product in the United States. It was only after rebranding it with a soft, feminine image in the late 1920s that it became popular.
- Some form of toilet paper has existed since at least the sixth century A.D. One court in the Ming dynasty recorded the annual use of 720,000 sheets of toilet paper in pieces that were 2 feet (61 cm) by 3 feet (91.4 cm).