# What is the largest percentage of humanity killed by Man, natural disaster? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 25, 2007, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-percentage-of-humanity-killed-by-man-natural-disaster/397434 "2007-03-25T16:42:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-percentage-of-humanity-killed-by-man-natural-disaster/397434/1 "2007-03-25T16:42:17Z")
The topic is badly phrased so let me clarify with a few hypothetical examples: A long time ago : Human population is 50 thousands. A war erupts and 500 die. The percentage is 1%. Not so long time ago: Human population is 5 million. A volcano erupts and kills 3,000. The percentage is 0.06%. So basically, I’m asking for the closest we ever came to extinction, either at our own hands or because of natural disasters _that we know of_. It can be war, plagues, purges, earthquakes, etc. Anything at all as long as large numbers of people died. ---
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-percentage-of-humanity-killed-by-man-natural-disaster/397434/2 "2007-03-25T16:52:03Z")
> **[Toba catastrophe theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory)** > > The Toba eruption (sometimes called the Toba supereruption or the Youngest Toba eruption) was a supervolcano eruption that occurred around 74,000 years ago during the Late Pleistocene at the site of present-day Lake Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia. It is one of the largest known explosive eruptions in the Earth's history. The Toba catastrophe theory holds that this event caused a severe global volcanic winter of six to ten years and contributed to a 1,000-year-long cooling episode, leading to a gen A ... Explains it better than myself. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-percentage-of-humanity-killed-by-man-natural-disaster/397434/3 "2007-03-25T19:00:15Z")
Between 1347 and 1352, [bubonic plague](http://www.themiddleages.net/plague.html) was responsible for about 25 million deaths in Europe. Estimates of the total human population at that time seem to be about 350 to 450 million, which means that this plague killed about 6% of all humans. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-percentage-of-humanity-killed-by-man-natural-disaster/397434/4 "2007-03-25T19:51:18Z")
[Professor Stephen Oppenheimer Books](http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/) Funny you should ask. Check this. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-percentage-of-humanity-killed-by-man-natural-disaster/397434/5 "2007-03-26T09:48:14Z")
Cain was rumored to have slaughtered 25% of the human population in one day. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-percentage-of-humanity-killed-by-man-natural-disaster/397434/6 "2007-03-26T10:19:18Z")
I was about to link to that **gonzomax**! But I don’t think it gives the total population at any time, so the percentage killed (or left) can’t be worked out… ---
**Author:** ![charizard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charizard/32/4166_2.png) [@charizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/charizard)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-percentage-of-humanity-killed-by-man-natural-disaster/397434/7 "2007-03-27T00:36:51Z")
[QUOTE=Meurglys] I was about to link to that **gonzomax**! But I don’t think it gives the total population at any time, so the percentage killed (or left) can’t be worked out… [/QUOTE] Wikipedia’s article on [supervolcanoes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supervolcano) gives a figure of 60% of humanity wiped out by this event… I think we have a winner!