Historical Estimates of World Population

(Population in millions. When lower and upper estimates are the same they are shown under "Lower.")

Year	Summary		Biraben	Durand		Haub	McEvedy and Jones	Thomlinson		UN, 1993		UN, 1999	USBC
Year	Lower	Upper	Biraben	Lower	Upper	Haub	McEvedy and Jones	Lower	Upper	Lower	Upper	UN, 1999	USBC
-10000	1	10					4	1	10
-8000	5					5
-6500	5	10								5	10
-5000	5	20					5	5	20
-4000	7						7
-3000	14						14
-2000	27						27
-1000	50						50
-500	100						100
-400	162		162
-200	150	231	231				150
1	170	400	255	270	330	300	170	200		200	400	300
200	190	256	256				190
400	190	206	206				190
500	190	206	206				190
600	200	206	206				200
700	207	210	207				210
800	220	224	224				220
900	226	240	226				240
1000	254	345	254	275	345		265					310
1100	301	320	301				320
1200	360	450	400			450	360
1250	400	416	416									400
1300	360	432	432				360	400
1340	443		443
1400	350	374	374				350
1500	425	540	460	440	540		425					500
1600	545	579	579				545
1650	470	545				500	545	500		470	545
1700	600	679	679				610	600
1750	629	961	770	735	805	795	720	700		629	961	790
1800	813	1,125	954				900	900		813	1,125	980
1850	1,128	1,402	1,241			1,265	1,200	1,200		1,128	1,402	1,260
1900	1,550	1,762	1,633	1,650	1,710	1,656	1,625	1,600		1,550	1,762	1,650
1910	1,750											1,750
1920	1,860											1,860
1930	2,070											2,070
1940	2,300											2,300
1950	2,400	2,556	2,527			2,516	2,500	2,400		2,486		2,520	2,555

Sources:

Biraben, Jean-Noel, 1980, An Essay Concerning Mankind's Evolution,
Population, Selected Papers, December, table 2.

Durand, John D., 1974, "Historical Estimates of World Population: An Evaluation,"
University of Pennsylvania, Population Center,
Analytical and Technical Reports, Number 10, table 2.

Haub, Carl, 1995, "How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?"
Population Today, February, p. 5.

McEvedy, Colin and Richard Jones, 1978, "Atlas of World Population History,"
Facts on File, New York, pp. 342-351.

Thomlinson, Ralph, 1975, "Demographic Problems, Controversy Over Population Control,"
Second Edition, Table 1.

United Nations (UN), 1973, The Determinants and Consequences of
Population Trends, Population Studies, No. 50., p.10.

United Nations, 1999, The World at Six Billion, Table 1, "World Population From"
Year 0 to Stabilization, p. 5,
http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/sixbillion/sixbilpart1.pdf

U.S. Bureau of the Census (USBC), 2002, "Total Midyear Population for the World: 1950-2050",
Data updated 10-10-2002,
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/worldpop.html

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division,
International Programs Center

Last Revised: 23 Sep 2003 16:05:42 EDT