What are people doing? Live-ish estimates based on global population dynamics

161 willbc 71 5/20/2025, 1:36:15 AM humans.maxcomperatore.com ↗

Comments (71)

Aardwolf · 1h ago
Missed opportunity to add a "viewing this dashboard (0.00000125%)" stat since it already has the live viewers counter :)
thenoblesunfish · 11m ago
Only 6-7% of people are sleeping? Wouldn't you expect that to be more like 30%?
aaomidi · 10m ago
Depends on the time, no?

Population not being evenly distributed etc

sinuhe69 · 6h ago
Related:

I find the simulation and visualization of the same topic (albeit for US only) by DataFlow 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...

ffsm8 · 5h ago
Pretty entertaining to watch the bubbles change color/activity but be unable to go to their designated area because they're unable to break away from the bulk of their neighbors.

Like peer pressure, but really just an artifact of the chosen technology for the visualization

yard2010 · 4h ago
Isn't rl peer pressure also an artifact of the chosen "tech", or in other words - an artifact of perspective
pona-a · 3h ago
I think something similar can be done on the world-wide scale with MTUS (Multinational Time Use Study) data [0], with some creative interpolation. From what I gathered, OP's simulation is more of a live Fermi estimate, so it would be interesting to see the same done with greater precision.

[0] https://www.timeuse.org/mtus

hnaccountme · 1h ago
Funny how intimacy and warfare have the same numbers
tokai · 1h ago
Not really when both numbers are made up.
alwa · 8h ago
The changelog indicates:

> * Fixed "Intimacy" count to always be an even number.

The FTX polycule would like a word…

Beautiful work!

ed_mercer · 1h ago
Can one not be intimate with oneself?

No comments yet

netsharc · 4h ago
"What would you do if you had a million dollars Lawrence?"
01HNNWZ0MV43FF · 8h ago
Heck, Betty Dodson would like a word. I don't need anyone's help to be intimate!
luke-stanley · 1h ago
Cool idea but for the actual results I have no confidence in it because it has grounding shown like pop sizes, locations / timezones etc, it's just vibe coded with stuff like this: "// Approx 7.68 hours - fundamental physiological need.", "label: 'Nutrition', // User's concise label". I don't see any real population dynamics.
avvt4avaw · 3h ago
Why do the estimated births/deaths per second counters have so much flicker? Surely you don't actually believe that the expected number of births/deaths per second fluctuates at 1dp precision multiple times per second?
avvt4avaw · 3h ago
> The continuously updating global population counter is based on current aggregate birth and death rates (approximating values such as those from the U.S. Census Bureau International Database or UN DESA). The "live" births and deaths per second are statistically generated fluctuations around these averages to enhance the dynamic feel.

Ok, so you added high-frequency random noise to the estimated averages to make it feel more realistic. To me, this makes it feel less realistic.

Anyway, don't mean to gripe, this is a cool project!

ides_dev · 2h ago
It would be interesting if it could fluctuate depending on birth rates at different times of day in different countries. That way, it could at least have a bit of dynamism if, for example, India had the highest global birthrate and most births there occured during daylight hours.
OskarS · 1h ago
Presumably time of day matters? I’m guessing more people give birth or have c-sections during the day (not sure if that’s true of fully natural births, but for induced and c-sections, seems very likely).
satellite2 · 3h ago
Intimacy being almost the exact same number as warfare is pretty sad.

On a more joyous note, it's really neat projet, thanks.

ides_dev · 1h ago
I thought the same thing. I also found it surprising that the number of people on a smoking break was quite a bit higher than either of those - I wonder how many transition from intimacy to smoke break :D
ssm008 · 2h ago
Yeah made me wonder. But then again warfare is 24/7 while intimacy once every now and then.
mrweasel · 1h ago
Also sad that 7-8 times more a on a smoking break. Let's normalise taking a sex break.
rightbyte · 1h ago
One of the benefits of WFH.
ithkuil · 2h ago
make love not war!
bspammer · 2h ago
Fun suggestion: move the "Live Viewers" counter to be a real entry on the site at the bottom.

Viewing this site: 40 (0.0000005%)

wanderingstan · 8h ago
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 · 6h ago
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 · 5h ago
And every second, another 4 are born.
WarOnPrivacy · 6h ago
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.

jl6 · 4h ago
A net positive birth rate is still concerning. 8.2 billion people is a lot. All of the world’s problems, from energy sourcing to food production to climate change become harder and harder as the population continues to grow.

It’s easy to be complacent in developed countries because birth rates have come way down, probably because of increased wealth and better education/opportunity for women and girls - but this is not yet the case in developing countries, and the nature of exponential growth is that if it exists anywhere locally, then it will eventually come to exist globally.

It really doesn’t help to cut aid programmes to places that are most in need of development.

derektank · 3h ago
The Club for Rome estimates that global population will peak at just below 9 billion by the middle of the century and then begin a sharp decline, ending at under 7 billion by 2100.

This is really bad if your country's pension and welfare system assumes a certain ratio of people will be in the labor force, relative to the number of old and retired people, as most developed countries do. A declining birth rate is much worse than a slightly positive birth rate.

jl6 · 3h ago
Maybe time to fix the ponzi approach to pensions and welfare instead of continuing to assume unlimited population growth on a finite planet.

Edit: it’s not that I don’t believe the population projections showing a peak later in the century (although I think the Club of Rome one in particular is inaccurate), it’s that these projections are based on there being continued effort to bring birth rates down, hence now not being the time for complacency or defunding these efforts.

oytis · 1h ago
What approach would you take without getting rid of the concept of retirement entirely? If people live longer than they can work, they have to rely on the support of those who work in the old age - and the worse the radio of working people to retired people, the harder it is for the society.
jl6 · 18m ago
The only thing that can work (which is also what is happening in practice) is to continually adjust the “pension & welfare” age upwards to achieve the necessary balance between working years and retirement years.

The upshot is that everyone will need to save more for retirement than they do currently, whether privately or via taxation.

oytis · 12m ago
Well, that's what seems to be happening at least in Germany where I am. Retirement age goes up, retirement benefits (inflation-adjustment) go down, contributions to pension system go up.

It's always a bit of political struggle of course with back and forth, but the general trend is just that.

ggm · 7h ago
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.

decimalenough · 4h ago
Wikipedia: "It may take several generations for a change in the total fertility rate to be reflected in birth rate, because the age distribution must reach equilibrium. For example, a population that has recently dropped below replacement-level fertility will continue to grow, because the recent high fertility produced large numbers of young couples, who would now be in their childbearing years."

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_momentum

tonmoy · 4h ago
That could be because most people in the world currently are young. Hypothetically even if birth rate remains constant but suddenly a huge portion of the population start dying due to age then it could flip suddenly
bvirb · 8h ago
Accurate, saw restroom use tick up 1
fredski42 · 7h ago
Seeing the population still increase, this must be completely attributed to Africa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_fertility_rate
saagarjha · 3h ago
There are still some parts of Asia that are below replacement birth rates.
danihh · 7h ago
Am I the only one surprised & perplexed about a phone representing “leisure”?
gertlex · 7h ago
What single emoji would you choose instead?

It seems reasonable to me.

danihh · 7h ago
Beach umbrella, couch, person in lotus position, a book…

Nothing outrageous, but it’s an interesting shift of perspective.

jagaerglad · 7h ago
the dancing or partying ones, although admittedly we all scroll the phone more
siavosh · 8h ago
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.
adt · 6h ago
>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.

https://humans.maxcomperatore.com/why.html

rightbyte · 4h ago
Reassuring to know there are 129 million bottoms joining me in bathrooms about now.
saagarjha · 3h ago
There are presumably some more bottoms joining in for the other categories too.
montag · 4h ago
Could easily extend the idea to zoom in on the map, constraining to various region sizes... The information gets a little "washed out" when you combine all the timezones into one blob.
FrustratedMonky · 36m ago
6 million intimate? Wonder how much this tracks stats by country, so as day/night moves along, can see bigger/lesser swings in the trend.

Or is it just a flat ratio to population.

jen729w · 6h ago
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 · 6h ago
Thankfully, ABS has those stats for you. https://dbr.abs.gov.au/region.html?lyr=sa2&rgn=106031124
jonahx · 6h ago
Love it.

If you plan on adding to it, would be cool see (maybe via heatmap) where the births/deaths are happening.

Willingham · 8h ago
Your design of this page and your whole website is beautiful. How many years experience do you have with front end development?
Sn0wCoder · 8h ago
Agreed. The world map showing evening, night and morning is a great visual to have updated in real time.
davedx · 2h ago
Pretty interesting project. A dynamic snapshot of human activity
whyage · 3h ago
Roughly the same number of people who make love, make war. That's sad.
OsrsNeedsf2P · 4h ago
Is anyone else shocked by how low the Paid Work and Education bars are? Is there a way to see this for specific countries?
Turskarama · 4h ago
Combined they make up about 33% of all activity, which is what you would expect if 100% of people spent every single day doing one of those things for ~8 hours. It's pretty much right in line with what I'd expect, possibly even a bit higher considering small children and retirees.
io84 · 2h ago
Great execution. Interesting to think about the peaks and troughs of global activity.

The Sleep numbers make a big claim: Right after Europe and West Africa have woken up (i.e. now) it says only 350 million people (4.25%) are sleeping. It's 01:08 in Anchorage and 06:08 in Recife. Over 1 billion people live in the Americas between these two time zones. Seems implausible that only a third of them are sleeping?

theelous3 · 2h ago
I think this is just going off sunrise and set +- some estimate. Which does not work as well the farther from the equator you get. It's light for hours up here before you wake, and we sleep like 2-4 hours after sunset.
bikamonki · 8h ago
Wonderful work! If 0.13% are in jail, how many do you estimate are positively changing the world?
lanewinfield · 6h ago
cool idea and nice execution! one thought: maybe make the time scale on your mini graphs a little longer so you can see larger changes?
musicale · 8h ago
That does it, I'm going back to sleep.
dgfitz · 8h ago
I’m not even mad, I’m impressed.
nishRC · 6h ago
16% are doing paid work? I always assumed that would be higher
jader201 · 5h ago
Full time people spend roughly 24% of their week working.

Factoring in PTO/holidays, roughly 20 years of education and 20 years retirement, part time and unemployment, that number drops quite a bit (I’d guess roughly half, to 12%).

Of course, some people start work earlier and retire later, and some work more than 40 hours per week.

So to me, 16% seems about right.

fedeb95 · 3h ago
the declining number of people engaged in warfare is the saddest statistic.
saagarjha · 3h ago
One would hope that it's because they've decided to resolve their differences and lay down arms?
fedeb95 · 1h ago
yes, I would hope too