# Are there more humans dead or alive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 9, 2001, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-more-humans-dead-or-alive/86226 "2001-10-09T01:15:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-more-humans-dead-or-alive/86226/1 "2001-10-09T01:15:50Z")
When the world’s population passed the 6 billion mark, I got to wonder if there were more people dead or alive. So here’s the question in specific terms: how many humans have been born and died on Earth? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-more-humans-dead-or-alive/86226/2 "2001-10-09T01:21:09Z")
More dead than alive. ---
**Author:** ![Asylum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@Asylum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asylum)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-more-humans-dead-or-alive/86226/3 "2001-10-09T01:24:21Z")
There was a huge jump in population which started around the turn of the twentieth century, so there are currently more people alive now than at any other one point in history, but the total number of dead is far greater than the current number of people alive. I saw a graph that showed all this somewhere, but now I can’t find a link. ---
**Author:** ![Animalmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Animalmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Animalmother)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-more-humans-dead-or-alive/86226/4 "2001-10-09T01:27:44Z")
[http://www.discover.com/ask/main57.html](http://www.discover.com/ask/main57.html) [http://members.bellatlantic.net/~bjmcg/story2\_peple\_lived.html](http://members.bellatlantic.net/~bjmcg/story2_peple_lived.html) Both these sites say around 106-110 billion. The lowest I’ve heard was something like 60 billion. ---
**Author:** ![sir\_viks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@sir\_viks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sir_viks)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-more-humans-dead-or-alive/86226/5 "2001-10-09T01:34:20Z")
There are far more dead people than alive at this time. If you look at this historical link thru 1950 posted [here](http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/worldhis.html), composed of several different estimates for past world populations, a quick summation shows the past world population exceeds the current population by about a factor of 3 - 4. (Of course there is some double & even triple counting in my estimate.) ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-more-humans-dead-or-alive/86226/6 "2001-10-09T01:34:32Z")
This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks a lot! ---
**Author:** ![sir\_viks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@sir\_viks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sir_viks)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-more-humans-dead-or-alive/86226/7 "2001-10-09T01:38:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Animalmother \* > \*\* Both sites say around 106-110 billion. The lowest I’ve heard was something like 60 billion. \*\* Great links, AnimalMother. I actually remember someone saying it was around 60 billion, which is a factor of 10 higher than the current population (and even higher than my original estimate of 3-4X). ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-more-humans-dead-or-alive/86226/8 "2001-10-09T03:35:50Z")
**Cecil Adams** on [How many people have lived on earth since the dawn of time?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_085.html)