# What happened to the world population less than 2500 years ago?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-world-population-less-than-2500-years-ago/673665>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 11, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-world-population-less-than-2500-years-ago/673665 "2013-11-11T19:11:24Z")\
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**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-world-population-less-than-2500-years-ago/673665/6 "2013-11-11T21:14:27Z")

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The data in the graph was taken from the lowest estimates in [this Census Bureau compilation](https://web.archive.org/web/20101111115835/http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/worldhis.html).

As you can see, the lowest estimators, McEvedy and Jones, _simply did not provide an estimate for 400 BC_; hence that year shows as anomalously high.

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