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From: steves@tektools.UUCP (steve shellans)
Newsgroups: net.misc,net.bio
Subject: Re: World population benchmark
Message-ID: <1262@tektools.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 14-Jul-86 14:10:30 EDT
Article-I.D.: tektools.1262
Posted: Mon Jul 14 14:10:30 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 16-Jul-86 03:18:50 EDT
References: <3553@hplabsb.UUCP> <599@bcsaic.UUCP>
Reply-To: steves@tektools.UUCP (steve shellans)
Distribution: net
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR.
Lines: 30
Keywords: Billions and billions, population, United Nations
Xref: watmath net.misc:9892 net.bio:606

>>According to the world population watchers at the United Nations, today
>>(7 July) the 5 billionth person will be born.
>
>Something I've always wondered: of all the people who've ever lived,
>what percentage are alive today?  I suspect it's a rather large
>percentage, and it makes me wonder why there aren't more people like
>...

I once read that there are more people alive than dead.  In other words,
there are more people walking around today than all the people who
lived previously.

I cannot vouch for the truth of this statement, and I'm sorry that I
don't remember the source.  However, it should be possible to figure out.
Several years ago, Scientific American published an article about the
population of the world since prehistoric times.  On one page they had
a graph of this.

As I recall (dimly), it appeared to be an exponential curve except for
a sharp retrenchment at the time of the black death (~1400 ??).

By making some assumptions about life spans down through the ages, it
should be possible, using figures from that graph, to calculate the
number of people who have lived up to any point in history.  Of course,
that graph was based on some assumptions, but it still sounds like
an interesting study if anybody wanted to track down that article.

Steve Shellans
Tektronix, Beaverton OR
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