There May Be Far More People on Earth Than the Official 8.2 Billion

 The latest estimates place the global population at approximately 8.2 billion people. However, a new study by researchers at Aalto University in Finland suggests that this figure may be significantly underestimated.

The researchers argue that many datasets used to estimate population sizes undercount the number of people living in rural areas. The study was published in Nature Communications.

In an analysis of five leading global population datasets—WorldPop, GWP, GRUMP, LandScan, and GHS-POP—the team found that these sources may be missing between 53 and 84 percent of the rural population.

For instance, the most reliable data from 2010 underestimated the rural population by 32 percent, and in some cases by as much as 77 percent. The researchers suggest that similar errors may also affect more recent estimates for 2015 and 2020....<<<Read More>>>...