# How big an area to fit the entire population of the world **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 4, 2006, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-an-area-to-fit-the-entire-population-of-the-world/351189 "2006-04-04T02:44:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-an-area-to-fit-the-entire-population-of-the-world/351189/21 "2006-04-04T18:05:53Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Didn’t I read on this very board somewhat recently that the world’s population could be moved into Texas and be at or below the population density of Manhattan? My searchfu is weak today, I can’t remember what thread it was in. I just can’t wrap my brain around that. Either I can’t comprehend how big Texas is, or how small the world’s population is. There must be an awful lot of open land out there somewhere. (I’m from Chicagoland. This is a very strange concept for me.) [/QUOTE] According to [this page](http://www.50states.com/texas.htm), the total area of dry land in Texas is 261,914 sq. mi. Put 6.5 billion people on it, distributed more or less evenly, you get a population density of 24,817.31 people per square mile. According to this page, the population density in Manhattan as of the 2000 census was 69,873 people per sq. mi. The [overall population density of the Chicago metro area](http://www.demographia.com/db-chi-nhd2000.htm) in 2000 was 12,747 people per sq. mi. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-an-area-to-fit-the-entire-population-of-the-world/351189/22 "2006-04-04T18:23:42Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Didn’t I read on this very board somewhat recently that the world’s population could be moved into Texas and be at or below the population density of Manhattan? [/QUOTE] Speaking of which, I think it would be pretty easy to fit all the world’s population into New York City comfortably (initially.) You might even have enough space to walk around. Multiple levels of buildings are very handy. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-an-area-to-fit-the-entire-population-of-the-world/351189/23 "2006-04-04T18:37:31Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] Speaking of which, I think it would be pretty easy to fit all the world’s population into New York City comfortably (initially.) You might even have enough space to walk around. Multiple levels of buildings are very handy. [/QUOTE] Please don’t. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-an-area-to-fit-the-entire-population-of-the-world/351189/24 "2006-04-04T19:20:19Z")
[QUOTE=ataraxy22] I’d reckon the world’s population would roughly fill an area the size of [Zanzibar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_on_Zanzibar). [/QUOTE] Curse you **ataraxy22**! [Shakes fist] ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-an-area-to-fit-the-entire-population-of-the-world/351189/25 "2006-04-04T20:01:40Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] The final one was that the whole world’s population could live in Tasmania if the population density was the same as Hong Kong. [/QUOTE] According to one source I read, the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong has a population density of 130,000 people per square kilometre. That gives a realistic - as in genuinely attainable - area of exactly 50,000 square kilometres for the world’s population. Or a square of ~223 km (~138 miles) each side. Full of lots of high-rise buildings. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-an-area-to-fit-the-entire-population-of-the-world/351189/26 "2006-04-04T21:00:28Z")
Hmm. If that 50,000 square kilometres was two-thirds covered by ninety-storey apartment buildings (leaving gaps for rivers, parks, windows, air intakes and exhausts, lakes, power lines, factories, etc–walkways and trains and roads could thread their way through the mass in tubes), that might not be all that bad, actually. You could put large-scale transport and factories in the basement; the offices, shops, and residences would be in the towers above. Food supply, even more than water, would seem to be the critical limitation. Makes me wonder how many people there would be in a planet-size city, like Trantor or Coruscant. And where would they get their resources from? ---
**Author:** ![wnorthr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@wnorthr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wnorthr)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-an-area-to-fit-the-entire-population-of-the-world/351189/27 "2006-04-04T22:18:42Z")
You know if Lynwood Slim is planning a party and I’m the ONLY ONE not invited…well, I think that sucks! ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-an-area-to-fit-the-entire-population-of-the-world/351189/28 "2006-04-05T00:36:16Z")
[QUOTE=ataraxy22] I’d reckon the world’s population would roughly fill an area the size of [Zanzibar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_on_Zanzibar). [/QUOTE] Christ, what an imagination I’ve got! ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-an-area-to-fit-the-entire-population-of-the-world/351189/29 "2006-04-05T00:45:22Z")
[QUOTE=ataraxy22] I’d reckon the world’s population would roughly fill an area the size of [Zanzibar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_on_Zanzibar). [/QUOTE] Christ, what an imagination I’ve got! ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-an-area-to-fit-the-entire-population-of-the-world/351189/30 "2006-04-05T03:57:40Z")
The statistic I heard (from a junior high science class film) was that there is enough gold in one cubic mile of ocean to make a person a billionaire and that there were enough cubic miles of ocean that everyone on Earth could have their own, and that everyone on Earth would fit into a single cubic mile (not comfortably, though). I haven’t checked the math, and this was about 35 years ago, so maybe now we’d need two cubic miles - or **Hal Briston** ’s **Enormous Blender of Death [sup]TM[/sup]**, set on “Frappé”, of course. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![BabaBooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@BabaBooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BabaBooey)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-an-area-to-fit-the-entire-population-of-the-world/351189/31 "2006-04-05T04:23:19Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] I once heard an explanation of how great an area was required to house the world’s population. It got smaller and smaller according to the populaion density it was compared to. The final one was that the whole world’s population could live in Tasmania if the population density was the same as Hong Kong. [/QUOTE] P.J. O’Rourke had a very similar statement, I believe even using Tasmania. Think it was in “All the Trouble in the World”, I may see if I can find it once I’m done with Godfather II. ---
**Author:** ![dbuzman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de0a6/32.png) [@dbuzman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dbuzman)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-an-area-to-fit-the-entire-population-of-the-world/351189/32 "2006-04-05T06:10:25Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] \ Makes me wonder how many people there would be in a planet-size city, like Trantor or Coruscant. And where would they get their resources from? [/QUOTE] Automated farms, mines, factories, etc.. with automated transport for all resources and automated factories making the finished products. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-an-area-to-fit-the-entire-population-of-the-world/351189.md?page=1)