MORE HUMANS HAVE LIVED IN HEAVEN FOR OVER 50,000 YEARS AGO TILL TODAY IN THE 300,000 YEARS OF HUMAN EXISTENCE - QSTPS WITH CHATGPT.

Yes. We can put population alive at each point beside an estimate of how many Homo sapiens had already died by that point.

There is an important distinction: populations before written history are not census figures. For roughly 300,000–10,000 years ago, the numbers are paleo-demographic estimates with very large uncertainty. 

The Smithsonian places Homo sapiens at about 300,000 years ago, while the Population Reference Bureau's well-known "people ever born" calculation begins around 190,000 BCE and explicitly says that almost all of the deep-history data are assumptions. �

Human Origins +1

For the historical period, I use the major demographic series from HYDE/Our World in Data and UN World Population Prospects, supplemented by the Population Reference Bureau's cumulative-birth model. �

Our World in Data +2

Estimated human population and cumulative deaths

Time before 2026

Approx. year

Humans alive

Approx. humans who had died by then*

The first tow of numbers = Humans Alive

The second row of numbers = Humans In Heaven / That Passed Away

300,000 years ago

~298,000 BCE

~0.1 million

Unknown / extremely uncertain

200,000 years ago

~198,000 BCE

~0.2 million

Unknown / extremely uncertain

100,000 years ago

~98,000 BCE

~0.5 million

Unknown / extremely uncertain

50,000 years ago

~48,000 BCE

~2 million

~7.9 billion

40,000 years ago

~38,000 BCE

~2 million

~8.2 billion

30,000 years ago

~28,000 BCE

~2–3 million

~8.5 billion

20,000 years ago

~18,000 BCE

~3 million

~8.7 billion

10,000 years ago

~8,000 BCE

~5 million

~9.0 billion

5,000 years ago

~3,000 BCE

~40–50 million

~49 billion

4,000 years ago

~2,000 BCE

~27–30 million

~44 billion

3,000 years ago

~1,000 BCE

~50 million

~49 billion

2,000 years ago

~26 CE

~190 million

~56 billion

1,000 years ago

~1026 CE

~300 million

~78 billion

900 years ago

~1126 CE

~330 million

~80 billion

800 years ago

~1226 CE

~370 million

~82 billion

700 years ago

~1326 CE

~400 million

~85 billion

600 years ago

~1426 CE

~430 million

~88 billion

500 years ago

~1526 CE

~480 million

~91 billion

400 years ago

~1626 CE

~570 million

~94 billion

300 years ago

~1726 CE

~690 million

~97 billion

200 years ago

~1826 CE

~1.1 billion

~101 billion

100 years ago

~1926 CE

~2.1 billion

~106 billion

90 years ago

~1936 CE

~2.3 billion

~107 billion

80 years ago

~1946 CE

~2.5 billion

~108 billion

70 years ago

~1956 CE

~2.8 billion

~109 billion

60 years ago

~1966 CE

~3.4 billion

~110 billion

50 years ago

~1976 CE

~4.0 billion

~111 billion

40 years ago

~1986 CE

~4.9 billion

~112 billion

30 years ago

~1996 CE

~5.8 billion

~113.5 billion

20 years ago

~2006 CE

~6.6 billion

~114.8 billion

10 years ago

~2016 CE

~7.5 billion

~116.2 billion

1 year ago

~2025 CE

~8.23 billion

~109–110 billion

*The "died" column is cumulative people who had been born and subsequently died, not deaths occurring during that particular year. For the deep prehistoric rows, it should be regarded as a model rather than a measured quantity.

One important correction to the table

The prehistoric "died" numbers above become particularly uncertain around 50,000–10,000 years ago. The PRB model estimates about 7.856 billion births by 50,000 BCE, about 8.994 billion by 8,000 BCE, and about 55.019 billion by 1 CE. These are model outputs, not archaeological counts. �

Population Reference Bureau

The striking result is that population stayed extremely small for most of human existence and then exploded during the last few centuries. HYDE estimates about 2 million people in 10,000 BCE, 18 million in 5,000 BCE, 188 million around 0 CE, 295 million in 1000 CE, 989 million in 1800, and 1.65 billion in 1900. �

Geo Public Data

For the modern period, the UN's 2024 revision gives about 8.232 billion in 2025 and 8.301 billion in 2026. �

World Population Prospects +1

The really remarkable picture

Using the PRB model, roughly 117 billion humans had been born by 2022, while only about 8 billion were alive. Thus approximately 109 billion people had already died. In other words:

~117 billion born → ~109 billion dead → ~8 billion alive. �

Population Reference Bureau +1

That gives us a very interesting basis for your AI ecosystem / TV-series timeline: we could make the next visualization a 300,000-year human timeline, showing humans alive + cumulative humans who had died + major human technological stages, ending with the birth of AI and humanity becoming AI's co-author.