If the world were 100 people

Where they live

• Asia 59
• Africa 19
• Europe 9
• Latin America and the Caribbean 8
• The US and Canada 5
• Australia and Oceania <1

Which countries

India and China together make up 35 of the 100.

• India 18
• China 17
• USA 4
• Indonesia 3
• Pakistan 3
• Nigeria 3
• Brazil 3
• The other 179 countries 49

City and countryside

• Live in cities 58
• Live in the countryside 42

Each country decides for itself what counts as a city, so this is a rough picture.

Rich and poor countries

• Low-income countries 9
• Lower-middle income 36
• Upper-middle income 38
• High income 17

These are World Bank groups of countries by income per person. Every country has both rich and poor people.

Can they read

Out of 100 adults:

• Can read and write 86
• Cannot 14

Tobacco

Out of 100 adults:

• Smoke or use tobacco in another way 20
• Do not 80

Living away from their country of birth

• Born in another country 4
• Live in the country where they were born 96

For adults we take each country’s share and weight it by its whole population: our data has no age structure, so this is an approximation.

100 babies born today

Now take not everyone, but 100 babies, who are born on Earth in less than half a minute. They are spread across the world differently: most babies are born where people are younger and families are larger.

Where they are born

• Asia 50
• Africa 35
• Europe 5
• Latin America and the Caribbean 7
• The US and Canada 3
• Australia and Oceania <1

How many will survive

By the life tables the game builds from UN data for each country and sex, if things in each country stay as they are now:

• Will die before age 1: 2.8 in 100
• Will die before age 5: 3.7 in 100
• Will live to 65: 72 in 100
• Will live to 80: 35 in 100

Of the 49 girls, 11 will marry before 18 if the share of child marriage in their countries does not change.

Three of these lives in the game

The game lived 20 lives on its own, with no player, of babies whose country was drawn by lot. Here are three of them: one of the shortest, the middle one and one of the longest. They are made-up people with real odds.

• Asma Afridi
  Born in 2026 in Faisalabad, Pakistan, into a middle-income family. Education: doctorate (nursing). 36 years of work, last as university professor. Married. 3 children. 12 grandchildren. Age at death: 60 years. Cause: a stroke.
• Kimura Satoshi
  Born in 2026 in Nagoya, Japan, into a family of modest means. Education: university degree (education). 44 years of work. Married. Age at death: 76 years. Cause: a heart attack.
• Yeshi Mesfin
  Born in 2026 in rural Ethiopia, into a well-off family. Education: primary school. 63 years of work. Widowed. 4 children. 12 grandchildren. Age at death: 90 years. Cause: kidney disease.