by PokerPaul on July 17th, 2005

PokerPaul

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Is it true that half the people who have ever been alive are still alive now? I find that impossible to believe.

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  • by scymitar72 on July 17th, 2005

    scymitar72

    No this is not true. It is estimated that 106.4 billion people have ever lived. 2004 global population was 6.4 billion, which is only about 6% of the total number of people who have ever lived.

    Here's an excerpt from an interesting web site (link below):

    "World Population: How Many Have Ever Lived.

    An unknown writer claimed that "three-quarters of all the people who have ever been born are alive today". That erroneous statistic became accepted as fact. However, there is enough information to make a good guess as to how many people have ever lived on Earth. According to calculations a total of 106.4 billion people since man appeared about 50,000 B.C. That means that 5.8% of all the people who have ever been born are alive today. Every year, global population increases by about 78 million people. It is estimated that humanity is consuming the earth's resources 20% faster than they can be sustained. Until the modern era, world population grew slowly. During the next eight milleniums, population grew at .05% per year, reaching 300 million in 1 A.D. During the following 16 centuries, the annual growth rate fluctuated, partly because of the Black Death, which ravaged 14th century Europe. Today, there are six times as many people alive as at the start of the industrial revolution, 13 times more than when Columbus set sail and 20 times more than during the Roman Empire."

    This is an excerpt from:
    http://www.overpopulation.org/faq.html

    Comments
    • Interesting.

      mister_c

      by mister_c on September 29th, 2005

    • You answered it, no reason for me to. +4

      Stevie

      by Stevie on November 5th, 2009

    • Yes, very interesting.

      Rip Van Winkle

      by Rip Van Winkle on January 1st, 2010

    • well, that's another problem solved, and most likely another one created!!

      socrates111

      by socrates111 on February 7th, 2010

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