So 7% of people who have EVER lived are alive right now.

etcet · on Aug 30, 2011

I made 'an app for that': http://etcet.net/thehumancounter/

My count is at 6.57% but it also estimates us at 30M over the 7B mark.

burgerbrain · on Aug 30, 2011

Small nitpick, I know it's not meant for a "serious" application, but this seems to have a significant digit problem. The number of people to have ever lived can't possibly be known to that kind of accuracy.

Sorry, that sort of thing just bugs me for some reason ;)

simcop2387 · on Aug 30, 2011

Off topic, but according to your website the first human was born January 1.025 in year -50000. :)

burgerbrain · on Aug 30, 2011

Fortunately everyone that was born before then is likely deceased, and not likely to become offended at their suggested non-existence.

etcet · on Aug 30, 2011

That's when we came out of beta, didn't you get the release notes?

MattBearman · on Aug 30, 2011

I seem to remember an article that put that value at 12%, but can't find it now.

kijin · on Aug 30, 2011

http://www.prb.org/Articles/2002/HowManyPeopleHaveEverLivedo...

It is estimated that approximately 106 billion have lived on Earth between 8000 BC and 2002. (The population before 8000 BC is thought to have been too small to count on a scale of billions.)

So, it seems that 7% is about right.

ctdonath · on Aug 30, 2011

Tangent to that: if one now lives 100 years, one's lifespan is 1% of recorded human history. That's not a lot of history.