Questions tagged [population]
For questions on population sizes, maximums and minimums, how they are affected by different events, etc.
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Population recovery time after a fantasy nuclear winter
One of the major events of my setting is an all-out war between two factions of gods (and their human subjects) using basically the magical equivalent of nukes and nuclear technology. The world was ...
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2answers
91 views
With a Fertility Rate of 2.2, all else being held equal, what is the population doubling time?
I get confused with the math here, and wasn't able to find an easy fertility rate to pop. growth to pop. doubling time online. If anyone can walk me through the answer here, that would be very useful.
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3answers
181 views
How fast would a colonizing population grow on virgin soil?
I have a story where the setup is that, ~600 years prior to the story's beginning, there was an apocalypse of a magical nature that rendered most of the world uninhabitable. A few survivors from ...
2
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5answers
165 views
A nation is using its citizens as a distributed computing network to solve some kind of problem. What kind of problem is it trying to solve? [closed]
Long story short, the government of The People's Representative Democratic Federated Republic of Southeast Countryistan has its citizens fill out a couple of forms per day, each with some kind of ...
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3answers
110 views
Self inflicted extinction in a modern setting - Plausibility and Duration?
Suppose there exists a species of humans which are better physically, mentally and aesthetically(in a conventional way) by at least three standard deviations(any large margin will do) when compared to ...
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5answers
241 views
What Might the Highest Plausible Fertility Rate For A Wealthy Society Be?
The world's fertility rate has fallen to about 2.4, and in the next few years may reach replacement levels (2.1) outside of Sub-Saharan Africa (where it's still 4-5, though falling quickly). Even some ...
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1answer
101 views
What is the largest population a single spaceship could sustain? [closed]
In this setting I'm brainstorming, a significant percentage of humans live not in planets or static habitats, but in massive ships that traverse the cosmos at ultrarelativistic speeds. As such, these ...
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1answer
121 views
Rebuilding humanity from forty-ish people in the middle of an alien world within 400 years [closed]
Near the beginning of my fictional worlds history (that is, when things start getting bad)the small population of around 10,000 humans is mercilessly slaughtered by the recently formed population of ...
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2answers
194 views
How many adventurers?
So,
On average, how often one could encounter an adventurer in a world the details of which are written below?
The World
Population
Roughly 13 people per square kilometer overall, with up to 55 in ...
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3answers
1k views
How could my island-country mostly populated by massive humanoids subsist its inhabitants?
In my prospective dramedy science-fantasy children's videogame Salade de Fruits (which means naturally Fruit Salad), there is an island-country comprising a total of eight islands:
The smallest has ...
1
vote
1answer
101 views
What population size is reasonable for a moving, steam powered, predatory city?
For a DnD campaign, I'm designing a setting with steampunkish tech level, as well as magic used to explain tech accomplishments not possible with real world physics. Almost all settlements in this ...
2
votes
7answers
119 views
How to ensure magic-sensitive population remain low? [duplicate]
In my world, China earns its beginning to three major clans: the Huang, the Yan, and the Chi You.
Huang and Yan are normal homo sapiens, but Chi You is a clan of sentient magical reptiles like dragons ...
1
vote
1answer
74 views
Naked mole-rat people [closed]
After dropping in childhood, the human death rate in adulthood rises exponentially, doubling every 8 years like clockwork until the number of survivors is so low that the statistics breaks down (...
2
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1answer
137 views
What would it take to have a 100% redhead population?
Redheaded-ness is a recessive trait. Obviously a society could just kill every baby that comes out with a different hair color, but is there any passive way for a human ethnic group to be 100% ginger?
2
votes
2answers
174 views
How Many Generations for Elves to Match All Other Races in Population?
So Elves and their long lives are well-known to be a fantasy trope but I wanted to determine how long it would take for the Elves to achieve dominance not through magic or wisdom but sheer numbers.
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3
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6answers
407 views
Any given couple is either only capable of having sons or only capable of having daughters [closed]
Consider a world in which every human is divided into two groups: call them Group 1 and Group 2. There's a completely random 50/50 shot for everyone to end up in each one, and it's not genetic or ...
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12answers
968 views
How many votes should a solar system sized AI get in a galactic democracy? [closed]
In a setting where there is a multispecies Galactic Democracy with Proportional Representation that has expanded with the rule of giving one vote to any individual, how should they deal with a Machine ...
2
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1answer
108 views
Space station stable population
An isolated space station that has 18 lab grown babies every day. The average lifespan is 120 years. What is the total size of the population for the birth death rate ratio to be even? Im having a ...
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5answers
2k views
How could a society of giants remain hidden?
How could a society of about 10 giants remain hidden from the world in this day and age? These giants are ~50 feet high, uneducated, and eat humans. They run very fast and are very strong. How could ...
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1answer
243 views
What Point of Departure Would I Need to Turn The World's Largest Cities Into Kowloons?
In 2018 estimates by the United Nations, 81 cities around the world have been categorized as metropolitan areas with a minimum human population of five million. Tokyo stands out on top, with a ...
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3answers
244 views
How densely populated can a rural area be?
The state of Bihar, in India, has an estimated population density of 1,307 humans per square kilometer even though 89% of the population lives in rural areas. How much more people could inhabit a ...
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4answers
382 views
Can encouragement of same sex relationships be used as a form of population control?
In the setting, the available living area is relatively sparse and valuable, but the industrial revolution is booming, and the associated rapid population growth posing real overpopulation and ...
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1answer
144 views
How long would it take the internet to shut down if everyone else suddenly disappeared? [duplicate]
Let's say you are browsing the internet, and the entire population of Earth instantly vanishes from existence. How long would it take before a link that you try to open fails?
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5answers
514 views
What percentage of NPCs does a god need in order to remain benevolent?
A god (G) of an Earth-like world is benevolent. At the same time G allows free will. The problem is of course that some people will choose to harm others. This presents the god with a problem; how ...
asked Mar 28 '21 at 1:21
chasly - supports Monica
46.9k12 gold badges142 silver badges290 bronze badges
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8answers
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How long will it take for the off-World population to exceed Earth's population?
As I type these words in March 2021, there are numerous private companies developing engineering solutions for reliable, high-capacity and relatively cheap access to space. At this point in time, it ...
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19answers
4k views
How Do I Keep the Population of an Ecumenopolis Reasonable?
In the galaxy I'm worldbuilding for my science-fantasy series, by far the most important planet in the galaxy is an ecumenopolis called Ishga. What I had in mind for this planet is something ...
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2answers
246 views
Realistic Postwar Population Explosion
Okay, let's say that we have a starting population of 7.7 billion, and a brutal, month-long war wipes out 1.3 billion people. 1% of Earth is rendered uninhabitable by the war. This would put carrying ...
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4answers
167 views
How would having many small towns vs a few big cities affect a countries society and economy?
Kind of a theoretical question, but if a small country in a late medieval-ish era sought to discourage large, crowded, dirty, and poor cities by encouraging more towns of a smaller size, how much ...
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1answer
184 views
How would I calculate population growth over 300 years with little advancement after an extinction event?
HEAVY EDIT after a few hours sleep and some coffee. Retracting my own answer and adding it to the questioon as it doesn't actually solve my problem and gave me more questions. My logic last night was ...
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1answer
153 views
How many children can a society of 250-300 people produce in a year?
Basically, my world's societies (They're tiny-sized for reasons too complicated to explain in a simple post) are forced to provide about 1 human sacrifice every month (Because reasons) and to fight ...
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5answers
510 views
Could the world function as "normal" if the rich, famous, and a certain percentage of each country left the planet? [closed]
My story is about a radio intern who is left in charge of the station after a few ships carrying a chunk of the Earth's population leave while claiming that the ships will be sent back for the rest of ...
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5answers
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Is a utopia a necessarily aged society?
Following the issues raised in the question How to limit population growth in a utopia? I'd like to ask a related question. In a stable utopia, would the population be old-aged, compared to less-than-...
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6answers
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How big can a town get before everyone stops knowing everyone else?
In small towns, people often say that everyone knows everyone. While probably not literally true (for all but the smallest towns), the rate of interaction between members of the town is still high ...
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2answers
133 views
How many people would a 1500 ish colony need [closed]
How many people would a colony with around 15th century technology (i.e. Bows, crossbows melee weapons mostly, a few guns and cannons) need to survive? A few things to mention would be that charms, ...
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4answers
2k views
Maximize living descendants of a cult leader with zero morals
A young man receives a message from "God", and has been told to procreate as fast as possible in order that his descendants can outnumber all the heathens (everyone who isn't his descendants)...
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8answers
414 views
What would determine the rate that a hereditary condition reveals itself after years of dormancy?
Long ago, an Eldritch deity was summoned to the city of Innsmouth within a ritual circle, where it was killed and consumed by the population. Devouring the flesh of the deity increased the mana supply ...
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4answers
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Population Size of a Colony With a Large Gender Disparity
This is my first post on this site, so please bear with me.
I am working on a series of stories about an interstellar colony with a large gender disparity. Namely the initial population was made up of ...
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3answers
704 views
How to calculate a village's population size
I have the two largest towns of this smallish Kingdom's populations, but the first place the protags of my story are going to encounter is going to be village or hamlet sized. Most of the resources I ...
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1answer
140 views
Which professions/backgrounds can make better slaves for an improved alien society in case of a selective termination? [closed]
Let's say that an advanced alien society somehow annexed or conquered earth for its natural resources. Then they discovered that these "human"s consume so much resources and they need to be ...
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0answers
85 views
How much hunting land and/or vassalized livestock herders would a dragon need to sustain itself given any possible caloric requirements? [closed]
Writing about a setting with a nation of intelligent dragons has got me thinking about the limits of greater draconic society. I found the discussion here very helpful, but I want to expand on it. ...
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1answer
144 views
What jobs would be necessary on a colony world with no access to any other civilized planet? (Too far away/no FTL travel)
I need to know what jobs/roles a completely self sufficient colony world would need to get started and continue to function.
The colony would be made up of 200k-300k colonists. They would be organized ...
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3answers
201 views
How quickly can an interstellar human population grow after 200 years post-Apocalypse?
In relation to my other questions, the earth gets destroyed in 2165 and the humans that would have survived go to a new planet.
Now, context is that the humans have been into interstellar travel for ...
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6answers
728 views
How large could a population of supernatural beings be and still be plausibly hidden?
I am trying to figure out how large the population of supernatural beings can be in a stereotypical urban fantasy setting before their numbers stretch the suspension of disbelief. I.e., your standard ...
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5answers
2k views
How many people within a given population could reasonably be "noble" without inbreeding becoming an issue?
I have searched around the site and seen several population-related questions, but not one that is getting at what I'm specifically wondering (or that is at least explaining it in a way that my ...
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2answers
219 views
How can an immortal emperor's descendants affect the rate of population growth?
In the ancient nation of R'lyeth, a carpenter named Yeshuah Targeryean walked into a desert to prepare for his ministry. During this time, he was visited by a tentacled monstrosity who promised him ...
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4answers
152 views
How would dozens of humanoid species affect early migrations?
In our world, humans evolved and spread to pretty much every place in the world they could reach. Would that still be the case if there were, say, a dozen different humanoid species? Would they all ...
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3answers
136 views
What would the population and financial requirements be to create a self-sustaining country based on UBI that could be apart of the global economy [closed]
If a mega rich individual wanted to test the validity of UBI (Universal Basic Income) in the most efficient way possible and how it integrates into a global modern economy, what would the population ...
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2answers
125 views
What conditions would allow for a medieval England type population to have only red or blond hair? [closed]
Only fair haired, with no occurrences of black or brown hair. I am seeking a reason that this type of genetic occurrence is plausible?
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1answer
231 views
Is it at all possible to have a populous, formerly colonial nation in the Indian Ocean?
The temperate latitudes of the Indian Ocean and adjacent regions are essentially empty- only the extreme Southwest of Australia and extreme South of Africa dip into the temperate belt.
What if there ...
9
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1answer
330 views
What would be the an avarage and/or realistic population density be for an medieval based city?
I'm currently building a world for a medieval based D&D campaign (i know super original) and I'm trying to make my cities as realistic as i can. Right now I'm planning on making a city in the ...
