Questions tagged [population]
For questions on population sizes, maximums and minimums, how they are affected by different events, etc.
7
votes
6answers
211 views
How can a planet full of zombies reproduce and maintain its population?
How can we have a world that is inhabited only by zombies and yet continues to be populated?
For the purposes of this question, I envisage the type of zombie that has been infected by a virus, is ...
2
votes
3answers
127 views
Reasonable maximum iron age/medieval population for small rural area
Question
From around 400 BCE to 1000 CE, what could what would a reasonable greatest achievable population be – under the best of all circumstances – in a rural area of about $\mathrm{900 km^2}$ (In ...
29
votes
10answers
7k views
In theory, could all mammals be wiped out by a single pathogen?
Pathogen
Note: For the purpose of this question I define a pathogen to include viruses and/or bacteria. Edit: I don't exclude other biological agents such as fungi that might have the same effect.
...
2
votes
2answers
110 views
Cycle of Reincarnation - Bypassing the wait
Lets say for arguments sake, that a world, with maximum population of 5 billion, the common Joe gets reincarnated a few hundred times since the creation of humankind. This type of reincarnation is ...
16
votes
15answers
3k views
What could cause a baby boom across the western world?
Right now the trend in the western world is declining or stagnant birthrates, but in my sci-fi universe I wanted to have a period of rapid population growth (around the 2050s).
What factors could ...
4
votes
4answers
226 views
How to mitigate high infant mortality rates in a space colony
Judging by the majority of answers from this question: What would be a logical reason to explain space based families having more children than an earth based one the spacers are going to have lots of ...
32
votes
31answers
8k views
What would be a logical reason to explain space based families having more children than an earth based one
In my yet to be named sci-fi universe humanity has begun to expand into space and has established large scale space stations near Earth and on places like Eros and Luna. I wanted the stereotypical "...
3
votes
4answers
250 views
How fast would a post-apocalyptic population grow?
Let us assume a soft apocalypse eliminating >99% of world population without any effect on infrastructures. The 1% is irregularly spread over the world.
All the drugs, weapons, resources and modern ...
1
vote
3answers
91 views
Operation: Seedship [closed]
The year is some time in the future on another planet. The planet is getting overpopulated. The world leaders have convinced the people that there is no overpopulation. But they are very much ...
-2
votes
5answers
237 views
How can I keep the number of demigods limited, but stable?
In this world, there is a group of demigods that functions as a religious organization. This organization operates worldwide and defends the realm from threats of a demonic parallel realm. There are ...
3
votes
1answer
136 views
How long would it take to revive an extinct race of people via cloning?
So there's this planet that, several decades earlier, suffered a massive famine and drought that made habitation impossible. Everyone still alive on this planet died, except for 2 escapees, both of ...
4
votes
1answer
136 views
How to determine reasonable population density of a three-dimensional volume
I'm attempting to rough-estimate potential population density of three-dimensional megastructures in space. Assume a filled spherical volume (i.e. death star, not Dyson sphere), where all internal ...
12
votes
3answers
571 views
How do I calculate the number of people who have ever lived in a place over a given span of time assuming a fixed population?
500 years ago, the mountain dwelling Carac clan was cursed with undeath: whenever they or any of their descendants die, their corpses rise as undead creatures, or if burned, as shadowy specters. The ...
6
votes
3answers
196 views
How would an isolated world grow its population, then keep it stable?
The scenario
In the scenario that I'm imagining, a small group of people (ideally 100 or less) travel to a parallel universe and begin a new society. The new planet that they land on has one land ...
0
votes
2answers
167 views
Reproduction is limited by mutation [closed]
In the year 2020, a cosmic event caused large-scale mutation in humans. Every woman could reproduce only once in her lifetime.
Two hundred years later, what would be the population and composition ...
-4
votes
1answer
75 views
World with 2 billion people [closed]
How much would fertility rate need to drop for the world to stabilise at 2 billion people in 200 years time?
Would the world with this amount of people be vastly more peaceful and prosperous?
0
votes
3answers
270 views
Every second person is gay now! How would that affect earth's population? [closed]
The villain of my (comedic) story is basically a gay Thanos, turning half of earth's population gay with a simple finger snap. Just like regular Thanos, he is concerned with the dwindling resources vs ...
-5
votes
5answers
241 views
What would happen if all female humans on earth died? [closed]
Say if all the female humans were infected by a disease and all of them die, as this disease affects only female.
Even if some male gives birth to a female child, it will die as environment on Earth ...
5
votes
3answers
388 views
How many people need to disappear before authorities take notice of the trend? [duplicate]
Due to sensible points made in the comments, I have reworded and clarifed my question.
I am trying to setup a world where due to reasons (mystical or alien) people have been going missing with no ...
0
votes
1answer
248 views
Every murderer and rapist in the world vanished without a trace. How many people is that? [closed]
In a worldwide catastrophe, every single murderer and rapist just vanished from the world at the same time. Nothing left behind, either dust, clothes, or whatever they were carrying at the moment.
...
165
votes
23answers
36k views
If everyone in the world disappeared except 35 random people, how long would it take for one of them to realize they're not alone?
Everyone suddenly disappears from earth except 35 people randomly scattered wherever they were before everyone disappeared. How long would it take on average for 2 or more people to meet? What other ...
2
votes
1answer
160 views
Largest Population for Ancient World Migration/Encampment
What is a reasonable range of number of people that could participate in a cohesive and centrally organized migration/encampment?
Assumptions:
Ancient times, desert terrain. People include adults ...
-1
votes
5answers
403 views
What would be the human population 200 years after 8 slaves escape?
Okay so in my setting, long story short, it starts off with a group of humans escaping an alien fleet they were enslaved by and conscripted into, and they find an earth-like planet that's smaller than ...
-2
votes
2answers
173 views
Can a city go from a population of 5000 people to 50000 in a 600-year period?
I have a few cities in my story that have anywhere from 30000 people to 70000 people. Is it possible that these cities have blossomed to such a number in a span of 600 to 700 years? I am going to give ...
3
votes
3answers
327 views
How many troops would be needed to occupy a city with a population of 2.9 million? [closed]
I have a city that has a population of 2.9 million and an urban footprint around 2,037 square kilometres. For reasons unknown, it's been sealed off from the outside world by a shadowy military ...
1
vote
4answers
252 views
Where in Australasia can a 4.3 million strong armed force be discreetly stationed?
I have a paramilitary organisation with a 4,320,000-strong standing army stationed in Australasia supported by a sophisticated air force and a bigarse fleet. This force is commanded by two Major ...
2
votes
1answer
183 views
Generation ship population growth
I have taken several things into account when it comes to population growth. First off, it is likely that on a generation ship it would be 100% natural conception so I need to take into consideration ...
16
votes
13answers
4k views
Is a population of people with eternal youth sustainable?
Alright so in my sci-fi setting, my space faring human civilisation has a widespread procedure that allows humans a very extended time period without any sort aging or its assorted issues (weakening ...
2
votes
3answers
180 views
Generation ship: How big exactly?
So first off I will assume that the generation ship has a reasonable capacity of 1 billion and 45,000 people are the first generation on it. Also assuming an 8/1000 per year death rate(the average ...
0
votes
1answer
95 views
How might lions and orcs engage in warfare with one another? [closed]
There are two populations of beings in a world akin to prehistoric subsaharan Africa: lions and orcs. The orcs have essentially the same intelligence and physical capabilities as humans, but they are ...
3
votes
1answer
147 views
Agricultural population reality check
I am designing a fictional world (no magic, real-world technologies). I have an unexplained anomaly in my world: There is a natural "bold spot" in the jungle (in the thousands of square kilometers), ...
0
votes
5answers
230 views
Human Sacrifices and Population Growth
Does there exist a percentage of a population that can be safely sacrificed or otherwise "disappeared" and still maintain a steady population growth?
For example. Could a village of 1000 people (500 ...
2
votes
0answers
36 views
How many people would it take to colonize Mars? [duplicate]
To ensure a self-sufficient colony, there would need to be enough people to ensure a diverse gene pool, a wide variety of technical experience, and enough bodies to work farms and such. How many ...
4
votes
1answer
185 views
With access to near-future technology, what is the largest amount of healthy children a mother could give birth to in her lifetime?
Essentially for my story my Evil Empire needs a constant and huge amount of new population to conscript for their armies. The way they accomplish this is by forcing every female member of society (...
15
votes
20answers
4k views
How to make people spread over the earth?
I created human beings and placed them on a planet full of landmasses, oceans, rivers, forests, desserts, swaps, snow, mountains, hills, animals, insects, plants, fish you name it. But I have a ...
2
votes
3answers
326 views
How is natality affected if sex isn't pleasurable anymore?
Worldwide, every single person stopped enjoying sex. They still get attracted sexually but sex is basically frustrating and feels like it's always uncompleted.
Nobody has orgasm but still ejaculate ...
0
votes
1answer
159 views
What would population be if 1000 or 10000 people began to repopulate in 400 years? [closed]
Okay, this is going to get a bit more complex, as i am trying to find a realistic number for my story. Let’s assume they have a 50/50 male to female ratio. A few important things to throw out there:
...
2
votes
2answers
144 views
Ways to produce atmosperic aphrodisiacs [closed]
I am a big player of Stellaris and some of the planets have the modifier Atmospheric Aphrodisiac so I was wondering, how could we achieve a planet wide production of aphrodisiacs.
The phenomenon ...
4
votes
4answers
141 views
What determines the number of cities and polities present in a given land area?
I'm at the point in my worldbuilding where I can kind of see the general contours of the history of the region I am working on. However, I always have trouble translating this into discrete cities and ...
0
votes
3answers
253 views
What classes should be included in a “restart the human race” curriculum?
I've mostly written a story from the point of view of filler programs in an online university, the characters initially existed to put human students at ease in RV classrooms with greatly diminished ...
17
votes
9answers
5k views
The nation without villages
Straight to the matter: is it possible that a faction in a science fiction world rises up while completely ignoring the concept of villages as a whole?
Let me explain.
While it's specific for my ...
4
votes
4answers
379 views
City for introverts?
I am busy drawing a fictional map of a city. It has all the technology, economics and sociology of the real world. The city has no nightclubs, very few restaurants, no bars: very few places to ...
15
votes
7answers
3k views
Can a lack of diseases in the medieval period lead to overpopulation?
In the Middle Ages, it was necessary for a couple to have as many children as possible because many children died before reaching adult age. Much of this was due to rampant disease and lack of medical ...
8
votes
3answers
981 views
Reasons for pregnancy to be difficult in long-term space travel
I am looking for medically viable reasons why we might discover it to be more difficult than expected to bring pregnancies to term in space. This is for a society based approximately 75 years in the ...
5
votes
2answers
180 views
Maximum size of a pre-industrial city without domesticated fauna
In a previous question I asked what the impact of lack of above-ground fauna would be on an industrialized society, such as with a tech level of 1940s-1950s. While it largely wouldn't impact such a ...
2
votes
4answers
196 views
Maintaining a constant population in a country
I am currently writing a short story about a world that is about to go into nuclear annihilation and ultimately destroy themselves through global thermonuclear war. Therefore, the government of one ...
8
votes
2answers
1k views
What is the Fighting Population of a Goblin Community?
How would the fighting population of a race of goblins be different from that of normal humans?
Let's name some parameters for these goblins, first:
Small tunnel dwellers: Probably not important to ...
4
votes
3answers
665 views
How many people does it take to run a self sufficient colony [duplicate]
How many people would it take to to run a self sufficient colony? I'd say it would take from 20-1,000,000 to live comfortably and still be a colony. But I want to know if it's possible with less than ...
10
votes
9answers
1k views
The biggest flaw with a Democratic Taxation system? [closed]
Imagine a country where once a year, the citizens file a sort of vote with their tax return, where each return decides how taxes will be spent. Each citizen controls an equal portion of the taxes, ...
6
votes
3answers
2k views
How small can a population be with regard to genetic diversity?
I'm working on creating a species that favours small families for a number of reasons, and have no interest in 'breeding as much as possible'. As a consequence, their population size is small. But how ...
