About New Year’s resolutions?

> The ancient Babylonians made the first New Year’s resolutions 4,000, yearsy ago.

They would make promises to pay their debts or return borrowed objects. These could be considered the forerunners of our New Year’s resolutions today.

> Starting a new year in the middle of winter in January is a Roman innovation, and we still use an improved version of the old Roman calendar today. Originally, the Roman calendar started in March. > Every year, over a million people gather in Times Square, New York, to watch the famous ball drop to ring in the new year and make their resolutions. A billion people are estimated to watch it on television. > New Year’s resolutions vary around the world.

According to a 2013 Google Maps project called Zeitgeist, where Internet users from around the world were invited to share their resolutions, health-related resolutions were tops in the United States and Egypt. Those from Australia and Japan were looking for love. In Russia, education was the first priority. In India, career goals were number one.

> The three most popular 2017 New Year’s resolutions made according to Twitter were: diet and exercise; read more; and learn something new.

> According to 2017 statistics, as many as 41% of Americans say they usually make resolutions. The success rate (keeping to one’s resolution) of those in their 20s is 37.8% while for those above 50, it is only 16.3%.

> The most common resolutions made last year were weight-related at 32.4%, self improvement or education-related at 44.3%, moneyrelated at 42.1% and related at 22.8%.