Scientists May Have Seriously Miscalculated How Many People Live on Earth

Earth’s population is widely estimated at roughly 8.2 billion, but a controversial study has raised doubts about how accurately millions of people in remote rural areas are represented. Researchers found that several widely used global population maps sharply underestimated residents around large dam projects across dozens of countries.

The finding does not prove that the official world total is missing billions of people. It shows that gridded population datasets—digital maps used to distribute census totals across locations—can place far too few people in particular rural areas. Other population specialists argue that the study’s sample and methods do not justify applying its percentages to the entire planet.