With around 2 billion children (aged under 18) in the world, let’s assume Father Christmas would likely charge for each present delivered. What would the cost be? How much would he charge?

Well, it should be enough to turn a profit each year, so we know that Father Christmas requires at least 141 million in earnings. Hence, with 2 billion presents to deliver, he would need to charge at least 0.07 per gift.

However, occasionally he would like to take his family on a nice holiday and so he needs to charge 0.09 per gift to have an extra 39 million in earnings, taking his total to 180 million a year.

Now we know, after 140 million in operating costs, Father Christmas is earning 40 million each year and paying 20% tax on that (equating to 8 million) which means he will take home 32 million.

If we presume Father Christmas dates back as far as the 16th century (1501 AD or later), he has been earning this salary for approximately 520 years.