--- title: "How many people are there in the world? about 8.2 billion" description: "about 8.2 billion How the figure is estimated, how confident it is, and what makes the scale graspable." url: https://atoneplace.net/how-many/people-alive-right-now/ site: "At One Place" --- # How many people are there in the world? **How many people are there in the world?: about 8.2 billion** India passed China in 2023, and the two together account for roughly one person in three alive today. World population passed 8 billion in November 2022 and is now around 8.2 billion, growing by roughly 70 million a year — the slowest rate since the 1950s. Growth is now concentrated overwhelmingly in sub-Saharan Africa; more than half the world's countries have fertility below replacement. The UN's central projection peaks at about 10.3 billion in the 2080s and declines thereafter, which is the first time the standard projection has included a peak at all. ## How the figure is arrived at National censuses plus civil registration of births and deaths, reconciled by the UN Population Division into a consistent series. Where registration is incomplete the UN back-fills using survey data and demographic models, which is why the daily "live counter" figures are a smooth interpolation rather than an actual count. ## How confident it is - **Low estimate:** 8,100,000,000 - **High estimate:** 8,300,000,000 - **Spread:** 1.0× between the bounds > As of 2024-2025 UN estimates. This number changes by roughly 2 people per second, so any figure quoted to more than two significant figures is theatre. ## Other living things and the natural world counts - [How many grains of sand are there on Earth?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/grains-of-sand-on-earth/) — roughly 7.5 quintillion on the world's beaches - [How many ants are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/ants-on-earth/) — about 20 quadrillion - [How many trees are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/trees-on-earth/) — about 3 trillion - [How many insects are there?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/insects-on-earth/) — about 10 quintillion - [How many species are there?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/species-on-earth/) — about 8.7 million - [How many people have ever lived?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/people-who-have-ever-lived/) — about 117 billion - [How many drops of water are there in the ocean?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/drops-of-water-in-the-ocean/) — about 27 septillion - [How many fish are there in the sea?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/fish-in-the-sea/) — somewhere between 3 trillion and 100 trillion — nobody knows - [How many species are endangered?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/endangered-species/) — more than 45,000 assessed as threatened - [How many bees are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/bees-in-the-world/) — roughly 2 trillion managed honey bees - [How many birds are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/birds-in-the-world/) — about 50 billion wild birds - [How many bacteria are there on Earth?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/bacteria-on-earth/) — about 5 nonillion - [How many earthquakes are there each year?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/earthquakes-a-year/) — about 20,000 located a year — around 55 a day - [How many chickens are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/chickens-in-the-world/) — about 26 billion alive at any moment ## Common questions ### How many people are there in the world? about 8.2 billion ### How is that estimated? National censuses plus civil registration of births and deaths, reconciled by the UN Population Division into a consistent series. Where registration is incomplete the UN back-fills using survey data and demographic models, which is why the daily "live counter" figures are a smooth interpolation rather than an actual count. ## Related pages - [How many grains of sand are there on Earth?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/grains-of-sand-on-earth/) - [How many ants are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/ants-on-earth/) - [How many trees are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/trees-on-earth/) - [How many insects are there?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/insects-on-earth/) - [How many species are there?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/species-on-earth/) - [How many people have ever lived?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/people-who-have-ever-lived/) - [How many drops of water are there in the ocean?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/drops-of-water-in-the-ocean/) - [How many fish are there in the sea?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/fish-in-the-sea/) - [How many stars are there in the universe?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/stars-in-the-universe/) - [How many countries are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/countries/) - [How many bones are in the human body?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/bones-in-the-human-body/) - [How many stars are there in the Milky Way?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/stars-in-the-milky-way/) - [How many atoms are there in the universe?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/atoms-in-the-universe/) - [How many galaxies are there?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/galaxies-in-the-universe/) ## Sources - World Population Prospects — United Nations (https://population.un.org/wpp/)