Between 2011 and 2013, China used more cement in three years than the US did in the entire 20th century.
This factoid is so staggering, Bill Gates once blogged about it after historian Vaclav Smil featured the statistic in his book, "Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization."
According to estimates from the US Geological Survey, the US used 4.5 gigatons of cement between 1901 and 2000. Compare that with the 6.6 gigatons of cement China used between 2011 and 2013, according to data from the International Cement Review.