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
[removed]
[removed]
[removed]
Ima be real it’s unlikely we can ever get a real estimate cause majority of the answers will just be “8 billion” “10 billion” never will we get an answer that is accurate because tbh no one documented how many people lived back then and there’s really not a very good reason to know
Ima be real it’s unlikely we can ever get a real estimate cause majority of the answers will just be “8 billion” “10 billion” never will we get an answer that is accurate because tbh no one documented how many people lived back then and there’s really not a very good reason to know
Ima be real it’s unlikely we can ever get a real estimate cause majority of the answers will just be “8 billion” “10 billion” never will we get an answer that is accurate because tbh no one documented how many people lived back then and there’s really not a very good reason to know
It is always possible to make an estimate.
Estimates are based on assumptions.
The accuracy of those assumptions and the information you don’t know will change the accuracy of your estimate.
This article [This is how many humans have ever existed, according to researchers](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/04/quantifying-human-existence/) quotes another article [How Many Humans Have Ever Lived?](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/how-many-humans-have-ever-lived/) that references [Oliver Uberti](https://www.oliveruberti.com/infographics) who does research and infographics.
I wasn’t able to find the data sources they used or the assumptions they are based on. There is also a reference to [How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?](https://www.prb.org/articles/how-many-people-have-ever-lived-on-earth/)
Some of the recent data sources referenced are below, but the assumptions are harder to track down.
Sources as of November 2022: Toshiko Kaneda, Charlotte Greenbaum, and Carl Haub, 2022 World Population Data Sheet (Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau, 2022); United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, World Population Prospects: The 2022 Revision (New York: United Nations, 2022); personal communication with Dudley L. Poston Jr., Professor of Sociology and the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Professor of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University.
It is always possible to make an estimate.
Estimates are based on assumptions.
The accuracy of those assumptions and the information you don’t know will change the accuracy of your estimate.
This article [This is how many humans have ever existed, according to researchers](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/04/quantifying-human-existence/) quotes another article [How Many Humans Have Ever Lived?](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/how-many-humans-have-ever-lived/) that references [Oliver Uberti](https://www.oliveruberti.com/infographics) who does research and infographics.
I wasn’t able to find the data sources they used or the assumptions they are based on. There is also a reference to [How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?](https://www.prb.org/articles/how-many-people-have-ever-lived-on-earth/)
Some of the recent data sources referenced are below, but the assumptions are harder to track down.
Sources as of November 2022: Toshiko Kaneda, Charlotte Greenbaum, and Carl Haub, 2022 World Population Data Sheet (Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau, 2022); United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, World Population Prospects: The 2022 Revision (New York: United Nations, 2022); personal communication with Dudley L. Poston Jr., Professor of Sociology and the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Professor of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University.
It is always possible to make an estimate.
Estimates are based on assumptions.
The accuracy of those assumptions and the information you don’t know will change the accuracy of your estimate.
This article [This is how many humans have ever existed, according to researchers](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/04/quantifying-human-existence/) quotes another article [How Many Humans Have Ever Lived?](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/how-many-humans-have-ever-lived/) that references [Oliver Uberti](https://www.oliveruberti.com/infographics) who does research and infographics.
I wasn’t able to find the data sources they used or the assumptions they are based on. There is also a reference to [How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?](https://www.prb.org/articles/how-many-people-have-ever-lived-on-earth/)
Some of the recent data sources referenced are below, but the assumptions are harder to track down.
Sources as of November 2022: Toshiko Kaneda, Charlotte Greenbaum, and Carl Haub, 2022 World Population Data Sheet (Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau, 2022); United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, World Population Prospects: The 2022 Revision (New York: United Nations, 2022); personal communication with Dudley L. Poston Jr., Professor of Sociology and the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Professor of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University.
Latest Answers