is it mathematically possible to estimate how many humans have ever lived?

Question

Question from an actual kid, though she was eight, not five. Hopefully there’s an explanation more detailed than just “no” I can pass on to her.

In: 509

Answer 1

There is a Radio Lab episode about this! I thought on balance they said the total number of people who had lived was almost the same as the number of people living today, (caveat it’s been a while since I listened to it.

Here is the link: [Radio Lab – “Body Count”](https://radiolab.org/episodes/body-count)

EDIT: they were talking about *just* the USA. They say there will be more dead than alive in 2060, but for now they claim there are more alive than dead.