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, 1973 | UN, 1999 | USCB | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower | Upper | Lower | Upper | Lower | Upper | Lower | Upper | ||||||
| 10000 BC | 1 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 10 | ||||||||
| 8000 BC | 5 | 5 | |||||||||||
| 6500 BC | 5 | 10 | 5 | 10 | |||||||||
| 5000 BC | 5 | 20 | 5 | 5 | 20 | ||||||||
| 4000 BC | 7 | 7 | |||||||||||
| 3000 BC | 14 | 14 | |||||||||||
| 2000 BC | 27 | 27 | |||||||||||
| 1000 BC | 50 | 50 | |||||||||||
| 500 BC | 100 | 100 | |||||||||||
| 400 BC | 162 | 162 | |||||||||||
| 200 BC | 150 | 231 | 231 | 150 | |||||||||
| 1 AD | 170 | 400 | 255 | 270 | 330 | 300 | 170 | 200 | 200 | 400 | 300 | ||
| 200 AD | 190 | 256 | 256 | 190 | |||||||||
| 400 AD | 190 | 206 | 206 | 190 | |||||||||
| 500 AD | 190 | 206 | 206 | 190 | |||||||||
| 600 AD | 200 | 206 | 206 | 200 | |||||||||
| 700 AD | 207 | 210 | 207 | 210 | |||||||||
| 800 AD | 220 | 224 | 224 | 220 | |||||||||
| 900 AD | 226 | 240 | 226 | 240 | |||||||||
| 1000 AD | 254 | 345 | 254 | 275 | 345 | 265 | 310 | ||||||
| 1100 AD | 301 | 320 | 301 | 320 | |||||||||
| 1200 AD | 360 | 450 | 400 | 450 | 360 | ||||||||
| 1250 AD | 400 | 416 | 416 | 400 | |||||||||
| 1300 AD | 360 | 432 | 432 | 360 | 400 | ||||||||
| 1340 AD | 443 | 443 | |||||||||||
| 1400 AD | 350 | 374 | 374 | 350 | |||||||||
| 1500 AD | 425 | 540 | 460 | 440 | 540 | 425 | 500 | ||||||
| 1600 AD | 545 | 579 | 579 | 545 | |||||||||
| 1650 AD | 470 | 545 | 500 | 545 | 500 | 470 | 545 | ||||||
| 1700 AD | 600 | 679 | 679 | 610 | 600 | ||||||||
| 1750 AD | 629 | 961 | 770 | 735 | 805 | 795 | 720 | 700 | 629 | 961 | 790 | ||
| 1800 AD | 813 | 1,125 | 954 | 900 | 900 | 813 | 1,125 | 980 | |||||
| 1850 AD | 1,128 | 1,402 | 1,241 | 1,265 | 1,200 | 1,200 | 1,128 | 1,402 | 1,260 | ||||
| 1900 AD | 1,550 | 1,762 | 1,633 | 1,650 | 1,710 | 1,656 | 1,625 | 1,600 | 1,550 | 1,762 | 1,650 | ||
| 1910 AD | 1,750 | 1,750 | |||||||||||
| 1920 AD | 1,860 | 1,860 | |||||||||||
| 1930 AD | 2,070 | 2,070 | |||||||||||
| 1940 AD | 2,300 | 2,300 | |||||||||||
| 1950 AD | 2,400 | 2,556 | 2,527 | 2,516 | 2,500 | 2,400 | 2,486 | 2,520 | 2,556 | ||||
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 
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U.S. Census Bureau (USCB), 2008, "Total Midyear Population for the World: 1950-2050",
Data updated 12-15-2008,
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/worldpop.html
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