How many humans have ever lived on our planet?
A simple question from one of my daughters sparked a fascinating journey into population estimation.
As a father of three daughters, I often have the privilege of experiencing magical moments when curiosity takes center stage.
While playing in the living room this week, one of my daughters suddenly looked up and asked: “Dad, how many people have been born on Earth since the beginning?”
As you can imagine, it was an unexpected and thought-provoking question that left me momentarily stunned. The simplicity of her words belied the immense complexity of the answer.
At that moment, I realized that this was more than just a fleeting curiosity — it was an opportunity for her to explore the world in a new way and for me to use my coding and data analysis skills to teach her something profound. What better way to answer her question than by building a tool she could interact with, explore, and learn from?
I decided to dive deep, not just into population data but into crafting an experience that would allow her to play with the numbers, visualize human history, and understand the dynamics of population growth.
