Here’s a curious claim that’s been around most years: on July 8, for a few minutes at least, 99 percent of the world’s population will be in sunlight. No, this is not the claim of the flat earthers, nor of the doomsday worshipers who believe that the Sun is going to devour the Earth. The claim, in fact, is (basically) true. While you’d expect sunlight to hit most people on the solstice, July 8th around 11:15 UTC (find what time it is for you here) sees more people bathed in the Sun’s sweet rays. This is essentially due to the fact that the only part of the world outside the Sun is sparsely populated New Zealand, reasonably populated Indonesia, and the barren wasteland aka Australia. But is it true to say that 99 percent of the world will see sunlight at the same time? Well, according to analysis by timeanddate.com, the answer is, essentially and surprisingly, yes. By looking at their own solar data, as well as population data from the Center for International Earth Science Information Network, they were able to figure out that at 11:15 UTC, just under 80 million people on Earth will be experiencing night. The rest – about 7.7 billion people – will experience some level of illumination from the sun, ranging from full daylight to twilight. However, some of that – about 16 percent of the population – will be indirect sunlight, which is experienced when the Sun is below the horizon but you can still see its light. Some of the population will still be illuminated by the sun’s rays, but not enough to properly notice that it is not night. As the Sun goes below the horizon at about 12-18 degrees—known as astronomical twilight—a little sunlight still hits you, but it won’t be enough to tell during the day. For about 3 percent of the population, the time and date concludes, this will be the case. In short, the claim is essentially true. 99 percent of Earth’s population will have experienced sunlight at 11:15 UTC today, even if not everyone can see enough to think it’s time to get out of bed.
