Psychologist Rollo May believes that most people make 500 to 2500 acquaintances every year--people you work with, individuals whom you meet at church or school, acquaintances with whom you share an elevator every work day, or who live in the same apartment complex as you.  The checker at the grocery store, the gas station attendant, your mailman or doctor.  You nod or wave politely when you meet these folks, but by no stretch of the imagination could most acquaintances be considered real friends, the kind that would stand with you no matter what happens.  But of that large number he believes that, on an average, only seven are real friends.[i]

[i]As quoted by Jerry and Mary White, Friends & Friendship, (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1982), p. 33.