The major events of 2009 are surrounded by facts and figures - it's the figures that we've focussed on. Take a look at the big numbers of 2009, from the 155 lives saved to the three years that it took Joost van der Westhuizen's sex tape to be exposed to the public.

155 people were on board a US Airways plane that landed in the Hudson River on January 15 after reportedly hitting a bird while taking off from New York's LaGuardia Airport. Chesley Sullenberger's skillful landing of the plane is being held as the only reason no lives were lost.

22 days of war that Israel attacked Hamas in the Gaza strip. The war ended on January 18, 2009.

7500 Australians left homeless after the nation's worst fire disaster claimed 173 lives and injured 500.

3: Ladysmith Black Mambazo received their third Grammy award for Best Traditional World Music Album with ILembe.

29 years of Robert Mugabe's stay at the helm as Zimbabwean president.

7 members of the Sri Lankan team are injured in an attack on their tour bus while on the way to Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan on March 3. Eight people died in the attacks.

24 years later, the daughter of Joseph Fritzl was led out of a dungeon underneath his home in Austria. He is currently serving life imprisonment.

60 minutes of darkness across the planet marked earth hour on March 28.

6.3 was measured on the Richter scale in L'Aquila, Italy as it is struck by an earthquake. Three hundred people die and 65 000 are left homeless.

8 years later charges against President Jacob Zuma are dropped on April 7 because it "was neither possible nor desireable" for the NPA to continue with the prosecution.

4 general elections since 1994, the 2009 elections saw 77.3 percent of voters making their mark to say who they want in government.

70 000 people are believed to have died in the protracted civial war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (or the Tamil Tigers) and the Sri Lankan government. It ended in 2009.

Air France Flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Brazil. Of the 228 people on board no one survived.

6 the alert level that the World Health Organisation elevated the H1N1 flu pandemic.

Michael Jackson is 50 at the time of his death on June 25.

67 (Madiba) minutes from people across South Africa, and the world, are donated to a good cause as the planet remembers the impact made by former president Nelson Mandela on July 18 as he turned 91.

6 minutes and 38.8 seconds marks the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century on July 22.

55.45 - the seconds that it took Caster Semenya to cross the finish line 800 metres away to claim gold in the 2009 Berlin athletics world championship

4 rugby trophies: The Springboks beat the Lions and won the Tri Nations, the Blue Bulls won the Super 14 and the Springbok 7s side affirmed themselves as world champions.

32 new exoplanets are discovered outside of the solar system on October 20.

4 The number of Rietz students against which UFS vice chancellor Professor Jonathan Jansen decides to pardon, on behalf of the university.

About three years: The time difference, according to Rapport newspaper, between when Joost van der Westhuizen starred in his infamous sex tape and when it was first seen by the public.

R4.5-billion was the cost of Cape Town Stadium as Cape Town mayor Dan Plato received the key to stadium the on December 14.

What were your biggest numbers of 2009? Share your thoughts in the comments field below.