Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Christmas is an annual Christian celebration held every December 25. Christmas celebrations close to New Year are synonymous with various typical Christmas ornaments. For example, a pine tree decorated with lights, bells, Christmas hats, and of course Santa Claus.
The final object cannot be separated from the Christmas celebration. Santa Claus, also known as Santa Claus, is one of the main characters on Christmas Day.
Santa Claus is a character inspired by Saint Nicholas who was the Bishop of Myra in a Roman city. During his lifetime he reportedly often helped poor people. He is also known to often distribute lots of gifts to children in the city where he lives.
Perhaps, it is thanks to this behavior that many people in various cultures tell it fictionally across generations as a gift giver to children on Christmas Day. In various films, for example, he is told that he rides a sleigh, pulled by reindeer, and comes home to give gifts. The gift is usually placed in the chimney or door of the house.
Then the question is, if it is true that he often gives out gifts, how rich is Santa Claus?
At first glance, the question seems strange, but a research team from the British company, Design by Soap, worked on this seriously in 2017. However, before discussing that, we must first understand Santa's annual toy spending budget.
Please note, the average cost of making, producing and packaging one toy reaches US$ 10 or Rp. 150 thousand per child. Referring to UN data, there are 2.4 billion children aged 17 years and under worldwide.
“Assuming all these children receive gifts, the total cost will reach US$ 24.3 billion (Rp. 380 trillion),” the research team, quoted from CNBC International, Friday (18/12/2023).
That amount of money is only at the production stage. Not to mention shipping costs. It is known that Santa is said to live at the North Pole. Of course, shipping costs from there are very far. However, in this calculation the research team decided to take points from China.
“Delivery by land from the city will cost US$ 446 million. Meanwhile by sea it will reach US$ 236 million. The total reaches US$ 683 million or Rp. 10 trillion,” he wrote.
Again, this does not include other costs. Call it accommodation, housing and insurance. For food alone, the research team put the figure at US$ 18.3 million. Meanwhile, insurance needs reached US$ 291.4 million.
Of course, looking at the nominal figures above, Santa Claus's expenditure is exactly US$ 25 billion or IDR 400 trillion. Please remember that these are all still rough calculations and moreover cannot reach exact numbers.
However, with the nominal amount above, if a non-fiction Santa would definitely be the number one richest person in the world. Interestingly, Forbes once ranked Santa Claus as the richest figure in the world of fiction. How much is his wealth? Say ForbesInfinity.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
(mfa/sef/mfa)