How many humans have died on Earth

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?

at least a million

Originally posted by bvb
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 50,0 ...[text shortened]... e people living today represents about 6 to 7% of all of the people who have ever been born. FYI

Can we just leave the answer at 'lots'? I'm trying to conceive of a use for this information.

Originally posted by orfeo
I'm trying to conceive of a use for this information.[/b]

Don't bother. There isn't one.😞