How many people are born while you read this?
About 4.3 people are born and 2.0 die every second. The world grows by roughly 2.3 people a second.
3.88 × a born in a minute
1,000 people is more than 2 of the 7 references on this page.
Reference figures are measurements and are rounded; the unit conversion behind them is exact.
| Reference | Size | Yours ÷ theirs | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| born in a second | 4.3 people | 233× | |
| born in a minute | 258 people | 3.88× | |
| born in an hour | 15,500 people | 1/15.5 | |
| died in a day | 172,000 people | 1/172 | |
| born in a day | 372,000 people | 1/372 | |
| net growth in a year | 73,000,000 people | 1/73,000 | |
| born in a year | 134,000,000 people | 1/134,000 |
Worth knowing
- About 372 000 babies are born every day and 172 000 people die — a net gain of 200 000, roughly the population of Reykjavík plus Bristol.
- The global fertility rate has fallen from 5.0 children per woman in 1960 to 2.2 today, just above the replacement level of 2.1.
Frequently asked
How many people are born every day?
About 372 000 worldwide, or 258 a minute. Nigeria, India, China, Pakistan and Indonesia account for roughly a third of them.
When will world population peak?
UN projections centre on about 10.3 billion in the 2080s, though some demographers argue for an earlier and lower peak given how fast fertility is falling.