LEGOs are plastic building-block toys that rose to massive popularity in the mid-20th century. The word LEGO is from the Danish phrase (“play well”). The basic LEGO brick has remained the same since the 1950s, and this simple, child-friendly design has been credited with the toys’ longevity.

LEGO blocks are colorful plastic bricks that lock together. Their design makes it easy for children to build their own creations. There are also LEGO kits that allow builders to make a specific project, such as a police station, school, or spaceship. LEGO became popular in the mid-1900s and remained a popular toy well into the 2000s.

Six 2×4 LEGO bricks can be combined in more than 915 million ways. A column of approximately 40 billion LEGO bricks can reach the moon. 1,300 LEGO pieces are made per second, 78,000 per minute and 4,680,000 per hour. The molds used to produce LEGO elements are accurate to within 4my/0.004mm – less than the width of a single hair.

Every person around the world owns an average of 86 LEGO bricks. There are over 400 billion LEGO pieces in the world or 62 bricks per person. Lego revenue was estimated at 7.44 billion euros in 2021, up from 5.87 billion in 2020. LEGO sells over 75 billion plastic bricks annually. Retailers around the world sell 7 LEGO sets each and every second.