What are people doing? Live-ish estimates based on global population dynamics
26 comments
·May 20, 2025WarOnPrivacy
Compared to my parents, I spent 20x the time parenting (the new normal) and I'm not sure these stats reflect that.
Our global birthrate is a unconcerning 2.3 and worldwide restroom use continues apace.
Sex is edging out smoking but not by much.
alwa
The changelog indicates:
> * Fixed "Intimacy" count to always be an even number.
The FTX polycule would like a word…
Beautiful work!
01HNNWZ0MV43FF
Heck, Betty Dodson would like a word. I don't need anyone's help to be intimate!
ggm
I'm surprised at the surface difference between birth and death rate because we're told the aggregate rate of increase is declining. The difference between the two suggests birth outruns death by 2:1 which feels steep for something which will max out in 2050.
I realise sub-saharan Africa continues to be high birthrate and is a huge component of world population, but the trend of increased economic activity to lower birth rate is really high worldwide, and most western economies in the OECD would be in decline, were it not for migration.
adt
>The initial concept was explored with the help of AI (specifically, Gemini), iterating through prompts to develop the core logic for a dynamic simulation. The goal was to create something engaging, all within a single HTML file – a testament to what can be achieved with focused iteration and modern web technologies.
wanderingstan
There is something sobering and humbling at “seeing” 2 people die every second.
To realize that entire lifetimes of memory and experiences are disappearing so quickly.
Though I’ve probably seen that stat before, the site does a good job of making it feel “live” with the updating population count and live stats on everything else.
jpk
For sure, but on balance, during that second: - A smart little girl aced her math test. - A loving father smiled at his kid. - A grandma blew out her 80th birthday candles.
Lifetimes in progress, building their own memories and experiences. So, two people may have died in that second, but 8 billion people lived.
userbinator
And every second, another 4 are born.
fredski42
Seeing the population still increase, this must be completely attributed to Africa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_fertility_rate
jonahx
Love it.
If you plan on adding to it, would be cool see (maybe via heatmap) where the births/deaths are happening.
siavosh
Wonderful. I always found the idea of billions of people particularly famous people doing something (anything) simultaneously as me, unbelievable for some reason. This somehow brings this issue front and center on a global scale. Well done.
jen729w
Just the other day, walking through a sleepy country town (Hawks Nest, NSW, AU), I was explaining to my partner how I'd love to have an AR overlay of the town that told me, statistically, what each person in each house was doing.
Ideally it'd consider an estimate of the house's value and use vision to assess the real-time appearance of the property to further hone its model.
If you could do that next, please. Oh and buy me a Vision Pro. Cheers.
gonzo41
Thankfully, ABS has those stats for you. https://dbr.abs.gov.au/region.html?lyr=sa2&rgn=106031124
bvirb
Accurate, saw restroom use tick up 1
danihh
Am I the only one surprised & perplexed about a phone representing “leisure”?
gertlex
What single emoji would you choose instead?
It seems reasonable to me.
danihh
Beach umbrella, couch, person in lotus position, a book…
Nothing outrageous, but it’s an interesting shift of perspective.
jagaerglad
the dancing or partying ones, although admittedly we all scroll the phone more
Related:
In find the simulation and visualization of the same topic (albeit for US only) by DataFlow is much more engaging and comprehensible. The project is based on data of a US survey.
https://flowingdata.com/2015/12/15/a-day-in-the-life-of-amer...