Hey, chowder, this is funny. I am sorry that others do not laud your wit, as I do.
I shall offer you the most sincere form of flattery…I shall steal this.
Thank you,
greatshakes
One standard, if somewhat older estimate, which used ~40 million as a baseline figure for the Americas, had it as ~9% of the world population total of ~450 million in the year 1500. Obviously as you revise that upwards, so goes the percentage and the world total. But it is worth keeping in mind that estimates of sub-Saharan Africa in 1500 are also a bit sketchy. Even those for Eurasia aren’t precise that far back, so the numbers are always going to be a bit sloppy.
But either way, it still seems fair to assume that the vast bulk of humanity had been swapping their diseases back and forth while the Americas hadn’t been participating much. It wouldn’t surprise me if India or China on their own each had as many people as the Americas.
There is some evidence that calls that into question.