> Paul also mentioned that there are more honey bee colonies under management now than at any other time in history.

I don't think he said that, really. In the case of the US, it isn't so. During WW II there were 6 million in US.  Now we are at about 3, up a bit from 10 years ago. Supposedly, California almonds need 2 million colonies. 


FAO Stats show that some countries have gone down a lot:

USA, 1961, 5.5 million
USA, 2017, 2.6 million

Mexico, 1961, 1.98 million
Mexico, 2017, 1.85 million

USSR, 1961, 10 million	FAO estimate
USSR, 1991, 9.2 million
Russian Federation, 1992, 4.6 million
Russian Federation, 2017, 3.3 million

And some regions have gone up a lot:

Turkey, 1961, 1.5 million
Turkey, 2017, 7.8 million

China, 1961, 3.3 million
China, 2017, 9.2 million

Africa, 1961,   6.8 million
Africa, 2017, 17.50 million

World, 1961, 49 million
World, 2017, 91 million

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