Perhaps the right word is monastery? Anyway, what I’ve seen is a compound of a praying place (benches) and whole buildings of beds.
There. I’m positive that most, if not all, people on Earth have slept on 2+ beds in their lives.
Now we’re really talking The hospital bed number is credible, but I doubt the hotel count can be used (I can’t access the linked paywall anyway). There are many types of unofficial hostel or whatchamacallits that go under the radar.
Yep, as many have also pointed out. For this thread, I want to use the simple word “fixed”, or maybe “permanent”. The longer definition would be, if a thing covers its full space for at least 12h a day, for a prolonged time (say, a quarter), then it’s a bed. Oh, that thing’s main purpose must be letting people lie on it.
Under that definition, a futon/mattress sometimes will count and sometimes won’t. Some tidy people always roll them up after a night’s sleep (~8h) and nap (~1h). Others leave them be and they ‘become’ beds. What bothers me is that a neglected hammock also counts, which sounds weird somehow. Let’s add that the ‘bed’ must touch the ‘ground’, whatever kind of ground that is.
The OP has very specifically defined “bed” to not include mats or other things rolled out on the floor for sleeping and then rolled back up in the morning. So, it doesn’t really matter how I or those Koreans would define “bed”.
Monasteries have a lot of beds, but that’s because they’re the permanent residence of a lot of people, who are no more likely to have other beds than any other adult. Probably less likely, in fact, since most monastic orders promote asceticism.
If a homeless person ever visited some almshouses then they’ve slept on beds. If a 2nd or 3rd world person ever joined the army or got a serious disease (this one is likely, no?) or went to a boarding school or whatever then they’ve slept on beds.
Again, I’m from a 3rd world country, so it’s likely that my view is not that biased toward the 1st world. I think beds are surprisingly 1 of the things people don’t hold back on having, even in poor regions.
Longtry, what country do you live in? I’m a Christian in the U.S. and I’ve never seen or heard a church that had beds, unless maybe it was some kind of facility that had a live-in caretaker.
This link says there are about 920,000 beds in U.S. hospitals, although that means licensed beds and not that they necessarily have That Many Beds. I know that the OB and peds units are probably going to have far more beds (cribs, bassinets, etc.) than occupants at any given time, and most hospitals aren’t filled to capacity at this time, either. They do usually have rollaways for people who wish to stay with a patient, if it’s allowed.
And this link says that 1.3 million Americans live in nursing homes, which have 1.7 million licensed beds. This probably includes not only Senior Haven Manor down the road, KWIM, but also state- and county-funded long-term care facilities for people with severe disabilities, group homes, and mental health care.
I couldn’t envision a casino having beds, except in the attached hotels like the kind in my city.
I live in Vietnam. In the trip mentioned earlier, I went to quite a few churches (monasteries?) in different places. All of them have lots of beds, some a surprising number.
Wow, I didn’t think of it at all until now: the thing that patients lay on to have their womanly part examined, though usually called a chair, actually counts as a bed. Not a significant number, but just a point that beds are more ubiquitous than most of us think.
I spent several night at a monastery in Japan. They gave me a lovely room with a comfortable futon, which I rolled up during the day. Whether that counts as a bed is a question of definition, but it doesn’t for the purpose of this thread.
Mine really was luxurious. It was the nicest room I stayed in on that trip to Japan. Real tatami mats on the floor, too. Also a small table, an electric kettle, tea leaves, cups, and a ceiling-mounted TV.
I would guess the ratio pretty close to one bed per person. There are some people who lack them and some who share them. More deductions if your definitions are rigid. There are many extras, but the number of hotel rooms or hospital beds in most cities is much smaller than their populations. The number on ships or space stations is orders below still.
According to the song “10 in the bed” the ratio of people to beds is 10 to 1 so I infer that the number of bed is 8.06Billion/10.
But then again, Bed stores exist - they always have a bunch of yet-to-be-occupied beds, and landfills have a whole mess of beds that will never be slept in again.
Can’t help but thinking that those monks were meting out karma or something. I’m sorry ::
I have an intuition that at any given time, the number of ongoing travelers on Earth is bigger than the number of homeless people (100-150m). Even if it’s smaller, the number of hospitality industry’s rooms must at least double that number (I bet triple), and thus the number of beds even more.
Right, once an owner decided to get rid of a bed then it loses the purpose of letting people lie on. Furthermore, once at the landfill it loses the ability to do so.
I was told that in Japan, Buddhist clergy don’t hold public services. You might hire one for a wedding or something, but there isn’t a regular weekly service you can pop in for. What non clergy do instead is visit monasteries, often several in a trip. A vacation. I think medieval Christians did the same thing, going on pilgrimages partly for religious purposes, and partly for the same reasons secular tourists travel.
Anyway, lots of the monasteries in Japan double as hotels. You go to their services while you are there.
The hospital bed number is credible, but I doubt the hotel count can be used (I can’t access the linked paywall anyway). There are many types of unofficial hostel or whatchamacallits that go under the radar.