By the Numbers: Swimsuit, Skin, and Sun

We "pored" over skin, sun, and swim information and applied water-tight fact checking to come up with these splashy numbers—and bring sunshine to your day.

4.5 billion
Estimated age of the sun in years

10,000
Temperature of the surface of the sun in degrees Fahrenheit

109
Number of times the planet Earth could fit on the sun’s surface

4.5 billion
Estimated age of the sun in years

10,000
Number of billion kilometers in one light year
 

15
Recommended SPF for proper protection from the sun’s rays
 

65
Percentage of all melanoma cases caused by ultraviolent radiation from the sun
 

8
Pounds of skin on an adult’s body
 

1
Thickness of your skin as an infant in millimeters
 

2
Thickness of your skin by adulthood in millimeters
 

3
The number of layers in your skin (the epidermis, the dermis, and the subcutis)
 

43
Percentage increase of survival rate with melanoma from 1996 and 2003
 

50
Percentage of all Americans who live to age 65 that will develop skin cancer at least once
 

1946
Year the bikini was first introduced. The swimsuit was described as revealing “everything about a girl except her mother’s maiden name”
 

1964
Year the first ever Sports Illustrated “Swimsuit Edition” was published, which revolutionized swimsuit fashion for men and women
 

2008
Year the Speedo polyurethane LZR suit was designed
 

200
Number of swimming records broken in 23 months after the Speedo LZR suits were introduced (the suits have since been banned from competition)
 

287
The number of bikini-clad girls that paraded the streets of Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2009 to raise awareness for breast cancer, making it the largest bikini parade ever
 

22
Weight in pounds of the average female swimsuit prior to 1915, when the development of swimming as a sport changed the type of fabric used
 

2006
Year that the “mankini” was made popular by the film “Borat”
 

7
Average percentage of SPF provided by a typical white cotton t-shirt
 

1937
Year that men were finally allowed to wear swimsuits that showed their chests (prior to this, men could be arrested for indecent exposure for swimming without a top to their bathing suits)
 

5
Placement of “Beach Blanket Bingo” in the series of “Beach Party” movies starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon (the first four, in order, are “Beach Party,” “Muscle Beach Party,” “Bikini Beach,” and “Pajama Party,” followed by “How to Stuff a Wild Bikini” and “The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini”)
 

150
Miles in length of the world’s longest natural sand beach, Cox’s Bazar, in Bangladesh
 

1960
Year the popular song “Itsy-Bitsy Teenie-Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini” by Brian Hyland was released