We know how many people are alive on earth. I think it's a little over 6 billion. But how many people have died on earth? I imagaine it can be calculated somehow by going back 50,000 to 100,000 years and estimating the population at each time. Does anybody know?
Originally posted by bvb We know how many people are alive on earth. I think it's a little over 6 billion. But how many people have died on earth? I imagaine it can be calculated somehow by going back 50,000 to 100,000 years and estimating the population at each time. Does anybody know?
I would guess all the people that were here that are not here now. Exceptions are Elijah and Enoch. I have no idea what the answer is to the meaning of your question.
Originally posted by bvb We know how many people are alive on earth. I think it's a little over 6 billion. But how many people have died on earth? I imagaine it can be calculated somehow by going back 50,000 to 100,000 years and estimating the population at each time. Does anybody know?
I seem to remember that in the time of Reagan as president of the US... that there were as many people alive on Earth now that ever lived on Earth at all. So what was the population in the 80's... and has anyone else heard this?
Also, what's this going back 50 or 100K years? In this forum, the Earth is only 6K old.
Originally posted by Phlabibit I seem to remember that in the time of Reagan as president of the US... that there were as many people alive on Earth now that ever lived on Earth at all. So what was the population in the 80's... and has anyone else heard this?
Also, what's this going back 50 or 100K years? In this forum, the Earth is only 6K old.
P-
Yes, that's pretty close to some estimates that I've seen. The earth's population today may range from slightly more than to perhaps half of all those that have lived and dies before us.
I cannot vouch for my sources on this one, although the dramatic growth of the world's population through the twentieth century makes such estimates seem common sense.
Originally posted by Phlabibit [b]I seem to remember that in the time of Reagan as president of the US... that there were as many people alive on Earth now that ever lived on Earth at all.
There was a song at the time with the line "now that the living outnumber the dead". The homo species have always reproduced at a great rate. Limiting it to 100k covers only the most modern humans. You could go back 2 Million years and still be among ancestors that are definitely human rather than ape. I think the population thing works because humans have very few threats to survival and each generation is quite long-lived so we've achieved exponential growth.
Originally posted by Mixo There was a song at the time with the line "now that the living outnumber the dead". The homo species have always reproduced at a great rate. Limiting it to 100k covers only the most modern humans. You could go back 2 Million years and still be among ancestors that are definitely human rather than ape. I think the population thing works because humans have very ...[text shortened]... ats to survival and each generation is quite long-lived so we've achieved exponential growth.
What do you think the growth rate for humans has been over the
last 2 million years?
Kelly
So it sounds like the best estimate for the number of people who have died on earth is somewhere between 6 billion and 12 billion. Is that about right?
The only reason I asked this question was because of another thread entitled "What is God's Kill Count?" That thread started down the pointless tangent of blaming or not blaming God for various deaths. That is an excercise that, to me, seems pretty futile for humans to attempt. However, it did make me wonder how many "souls" have inhabited our planet. I really didn't have any theological point to my question. Just some curiosity.
Originally posted by Wulebgr Yes, that's pretty close to some estimates that I've seen. The earth's population today may range from slightly more than to perhaps half of all those that have lived and dies before us.
I cannot vouch for my sources on this one, although the dramatic growth of the world's population through the twentieth century makes such estimates seem common sense.
I would guess that the number of living people today is greater than the sum of all deaths in human history. I'm a little uncertain because of infant mortality. Also I'm defining human as a homo sapiens sapiens that has been born. If you start at conception, my guess is that many more have died than are alive today.
Originally posted by KellyJay What do you think the growth rate for humans has been over the
last 2 million years?
Kelly
human race is not 2 million years old.........it's like asking how many chimpanzees died back then.
I think modern man is about 100k years old or so. Who knows?
Originally posted by lebowski human race is not 2 million years old.........it's like asking how many chimpanzees died back then.
I think modern man is about 100k years old or so. Who knows?
Useful links about this subject:
http://www.prb.org/Content/NavigationMenu/PRB/Educators/Human_Population/Population_Growth/Population_Growth.htm
http://www.addistribune.com/Archives/2003/06/13-06-03/Skulls.htm
Originally posted by KellyJay What do you think the growth rate for humans has been over the
last 2 million years?
Kelly
a growth rate of 0.01 per generation (i.e. each family has, on average 2.01 children) gives us a rise from 2 to 6 billion in 15,000 generations. At an average of 20 years per generation that's 300,000 years. This is of course a simplification, and doesn't take into account wars, plagues, etc.
Happily though, taking the planet's current human growth rate of 1.2% (according to Nationmaster.com) the population recovered in the 200 generations from Noah to us to the grand stately figure of 21. You'd need a population growth rate of somewhere around 7.5% (the highest currently is Afganistan, at 4,77😵 to repopulate the world.
Originally posted by 7ate9 it's impossible to calculate as people are more horny nowdays. do you really know how horny people were 50000 to 100000 years ago?
if we don't know how horny people were then vs now then how do we know we are more horny?
I called th U.S. census department. They told me that this is considered a fascinating question with a long history of people trying to answer it.
To date, 7 studies have been done. The total number of people ever born ranges from 46 billion to 110 billion in these studies. The most recent study was done by Carl Haub in 1995. That study claims that between 50,000 BC to 1995 the total number of people born was 105 billion. Therefore, all of the people living today represents about 6 to 7% of all of the people who have ever been born. FYI
10 Jun '06 04:19
How many humans have died on Earth
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