19 Surprising Things You Didn't Know About IKEA

Whether your yearly visit brings you to the brink of self-smothering in a giant bin of throw pillows, or you're a superfan with an unquenchable taste for their STILL INLAND (marinated herring with onions and carrots), it’s hard to escape IKEA's global influence. From the insane scale of their wood consumption to the fact that its name is actually just an acronym meaningful only to its eccentric founder, we rounded up 19 things you probably didn’t know about IKEA. 1. Ikea sells one Billy bookshelf every 10 seconds. It is the company's most popular product. Via ikea.com 2. Ikea uses approximately 1% of the world's entire commercial supply of wood. Flickr: u-suke / Via Creative Commons 3. Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea, has a net worth of $42.5 billion. Chris Jackson / Getty Images Entertainment 4. Kamprad was once denied entry at a gala when he showed up to receive a Businessman of the Year Award because he had arrived via bus. Flickr: yasuhirotao / Via Creative Commons 5. Kamprad also once admitted to having Nazi ties as a member of the fascist New Swedish Movement between 1942 and 1945. Flickr: anitacanita / Via Creative Commons And in 1994 he wrote an apology to his entire company. 6. Every year, Ikea delivers around 800 million feet of products. That's enough product to fill more than 9,000 Olympic-size pools. IKEA / Via facebook.com 7. There are approximately 9,500 home furnishing products in the Ikea range. IKEA / Via facebook.com 8. In the U.K., 1 in 5 people sleep on an Ikea mattress. IKEA / Via facebook.com 9. Ikea employs more than 131,000 people worldwide. IKEA / Via facebook.com 10. In 2012, there were an estimated 655 million visitors to Ikea stores. IKEA / Via facebook.com 11. In 20l6, Ikea will convert its entire lighting range to LED. Only LED lamps and bulbs will be sold from then on out. IKEA / Via facebook.com 12. Ikea products are named rather than numbered because founder Kamprad is dyslexic. IKEA / Via facebook.com 13. Ikea is an acronym that stands for Ingvar Kamprad (founder), Elmtaryd (the farm where he grew up), and Agunnaryd (his hometown). IKEA / Via facebook.com 14. There are more copies of the Ikea catalog printed each year than the Bible. IKEA / Via facebook.com 15. Ikea has lowered its prices by an average of 2% each year since 2000. IKEA / Via facebook.com 16. Ikea is building a 27-acre town in East London. IKEA / Via facebook.com 17. The largest IKEA store in the world is located in Stockholm, Sweden. It covers 594,167 square feet, which is bigger than 10 American football fields. IKEA / Via facebook.com 18. IKEA was the first company to feature a portrayal of a gay relationship in one of its ads. IKEA / Via Facebook: IKEAUSA 19. Since 1960, Ikea has sold more than 11.6 billion Swedish meatballs in the U.K. alone. Flickr: kalleboo / Via Creative Commons Credits: buzzfeed.com Share this story on Facebook with your friends.