…and you would have a population equal to all humans who have ever lived throughout history.

This came up in conversation the other day with a friend of mine, and was an estimate I was unaware and, to be honest, is incredible to think about.  The estimate says that of the entire human population throughout history, from all eras – 5.6% are alive today.   It makes sense when you think about the 6 billion population total as of today, but it’s still something that’s hard to wrap your brain around.  It’s essentially a product of exponential growth, although it is hard to know how exactly population growth has gone, as this article states, and plateaus of population numbers or sharp increases aren’t exactly accounted for.  All and all, it admits it is a guess, but it is fairly conservative, and seems like a plausible guess.