Postcrossing Blog

Another year, another opportunity to compile some statistics and look at Postcrossing through numbers! This year we added some new data, so let’s dig in, starting by how many postcards arrived in 2022:

4,993,468 postcards received

That’s 5.6% less postcards than last year… which is completely understandable, given the state of the world.

27.53 average travel days and 17.75 median travel days

The average number of days a postcard travels until it reaches its destination is a little higher than before… but the median travel time is not, which is good news! The median is a better statistic than the average, as it is less affected by the extremes (which are usually outliers). This year’s median travel time of 17.75 days is lower’s than last year’s 18.12 days.

25,338,239,130 kms (15,744,451,857 miles) traveled

A number that is just 1.7% lower than last year, despite the 5.6% difference in postcards received… which indicates that, on average, our postcards travelled a little bit further in 2022. Still, a huge distance that our collective postcards have travelled… the equivalent of 632,270 laps around the world or 32,958 return trips to the moon!

20,001 kms (12,428 miles) was the longest distance traveled

For the third year in a row, it was a postcard traveling between Spain and New Zealand that accumulated the longest distance in Postcrossing. This year, we even broke the 20,000km record, with postcard ES-683224, which traveled between Pontevedra (in the region of Galicia, in the north of Spain), and Greymouth, on the west coast of New Zealand’s south island.

The average distance that a postcard traveled was about a fourth of that: 5,074 kms (3,153 miles).

1,197,918 postcards were sent from Germany

No surprise here, our very enthusiastic German members top the chart once more! So, looking at all the postcards that were received in 2022, where were they sent from? Here’s the top 20 countries on this ranking:

The number of “Postcards sent” is a counterintuitive metric, so let me make a little pause here for a quick explanation: this is the number of postcards sent from these countries which were registered in 2022. That means that there are some postcards in there that were sent in 2021 and registered in 2022, and there are also some postcards requested in 2022 that are not counted in this statistic (those are still traveling and will likely be registered over the next few weeks/months). Limiting this number to a certain timeframe and sticking to it makes it easier to compare with previous years though, so that’s what we usually do.

Willi sent the most postcards

A lot of postcards were put on their way by our German postcrossers, with Willi at the top of the rankings with a total of 2,319 postcards sent (that were received in 2022), followed very closely by OlafArens, with 2,311 postcards — that was a tight race! The rest of the top 5 members with most postcards sent is composed of Sidolix (2,265 postcards), elbe (2,236 postcards), and ho-modellfan (2,235 postcards).

Åland Islands sent the most postcards per capita

No surprise here, Åland continues to be the top country in postcards per capita. Here’s the rest of the top 20 list:

(*) This ranking is calculated per 1,000 inhabitants, for countries with at least 10 members.

October 1, 2022 was the day in which more postcards were sent

World Postcard Day continues to be the day in which more postcards are sent, which makes us extra happy! Other days with lots of postcards sent are December 1st (the start of the Postcards for a Good Cause campaign), and also random days in January and February.

January 12, 2022 was the day in which more postcards were received

Looks like maybe a mini avalanche of postcards arrived to their destinations after the holiday period in December! Other good days are a little scattered throughout January and February, and around the middle of October too.

Postcards were sent from 201 countries and received on 153 countries

Can you guess why the big difference in numbers? That’s right — quite a few postcards from exotic locations are sent in Travel Mode every year. Often, there are no active members in those countries or territories, so there is no one there to receive postcards… but they can still be sent from there by traveling postcrossers, to delight some unsuspecting postcrossers!

12,669 new forum topics and 804,060 forum posts in 2022

This is a new statistic, and one we’re quite happy about! The forum is buzzing with activity these days, with games, chats and swaps happening all around the clock. Hurray!

13,127 emails replies

This is the number of replies sent to emails that came to us via the site’s contact form, with requests for help. That’s a lot of emails, and a big chunk of how the team’s time is spent… so this year, we’ll be looking for some help with support tasks. If this is something up your alley, keep an eye on the forum! We’ll post something there soon.

And I think that’s about it for this year’s statistics! What do you think? Does any number stand out to you, or are there perhaps other things you think we should be tracking and comparing, year to year? Let us know in the comments!

PS: We know it’s always frustrating when your country is not featured in a top ranking… so we published the full country list on this forum post, as well as a few more rankings.

PS – Happy Lunar New Year! 🎊