--- title: "How many species are there? about 8.7 million" description: "about 8.7 million How the figure is estimated, how confident it is, and what makes the scale graspable." url: https://atoneplace.net/how-many/species-on-earth/ site: "At One Place" --- # How many species are there? **How many species are there?: about 8.7 million** About 20,000 new species are described each year. At that rate, naming the missing 6.5 million takes over three centuries even before extinction is accounted for. The most-cited estimate is 8.7 million eukaryotic species — animals, plants, fungi and protists — give or take 1.3 million, of which about 2.2 million are marine. Only about 2.2 million have actually been described and named, so roughly three-quarters of species on Earth have never been formally recorded. Bacteria and archaea are excluded from that figure entirely because the species concept works differently for them; estimates there run to millions or billions depending on the definition. At current rates of description it would take another thousand years to name the rest. ## How the figure is arrived at The 2011 estimate used the shape of the taxonomic hierarchy rather than sampling. The number of phyla, classes, orders, families and genera in a well-catalogued group follows a predictable curve; fit that curve to the higher, better-known ranks and extrapolate down to species. It is an unusual method because it does not require going anywhere. ## How confident it is - **Low estimate:** 7,400,000 - **High estimate:** 10,000,000 - **Spread:** 1.4× between the bounds ## Other living things and the natural world counts - [How many people are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/people-alive-right-now/) — about 8.2 billion - [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 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 species are there? about 8.7 million ### How is that estimated? The 2011 estimate used the shape of the taxonomic hierarchy rather than sampling. The number of phyla, classes, orders, families and genera in a well-catalogued group follows a predictable curve; fit that curve to the higher, better-known ranks and extrapolate down to species. It is an unusual method because it does not require going anywhere. ## Related pages - [How many people are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/people-alive-right-now/) - [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 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 - Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place (/about/)