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I have often wondered how many people are undertaking long voyages by boat, and I'm really glad someone has taken the effort to find out. Jimmy Cornell has done a very interesting study (Cruising World, November 2011, page 36 - 41) into the number of boats actually engaged in world cruising. Below you see his summary map (click to enlarge) with the total number of boats per region. He estimates 10.000 boats in total, of which 200 complete a circumnavigation every year. The numbers have been pretty stable over the last few decades, but due to the piracy threat in the Indian Ocean behavior has changed. The Pacific has seen an increase for instance.