At what age is it reasonable to consider a vasectomy? (NWS?) [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Sep 8, 2009 - 28 answers

Where can I find estimates of Europe's population size, as far back in time as possible? [more inside]
posted by Coventry on Aug 1, 2009 - 8 answers

How does statistical analysis differ when analyzing the entire population rather than a sample? [more inside]
posted by jedicus on May 22, 2009 - 9 answers

Are global birth and death rates roughly consistent over the course of a day/month/year? (Are there are any clear patterns of daily or seasonal spikes?) [more inside]
posted by kalapierson on Apr 30, 2009 - 5 answers

How to determine the most important cities in a state? [more inside]
posted by capitalist.pig on Apr 3, 2009 - 22 answers

How big is the largest U.S. city without a Chinese restaurant? [more inside]
posted by escabeche on Mar 25, 2009 - 9 answers

paper filter: I'm doing a paper on information technology's effect on population growth/migration. Where do I start?! [more inside]
posted by dunderwood on Mar 17, 2009 - 4 answers

Population Filter: I have a problem that's been bugging me for a while. Looking at the qualities I tend to be attracted to, can you help me figure out the ballpark number of potential matches? [more inside]
posted by Phalene on Feb 16, 2009 - 19 answers

Where can I find the population of US states in 1995? [more inside]
posted by Phire on Nov 13, 2008 - 6 answers

Why do many American and Canadian towns list population numbers as you enter them, e.g. Welcome to Anytown, Population: 3,414 [more inside]
posted by Happy Dave on Oct 1, 2008 - 19 answers

I recently read the startling result that, in a recent New York Times poll, 8% of white respondents and 17% of black respondents said that the U.S. population was more than 50% black. This got me wondering what the corresponding numbers are for other ethnic group -- but for the life of me I couldn't find any data. What percent of the U.S. population does the median American think is Hispanic? Asian? Jewish? Muslim? Foreign-born? Interesting examples from other countries also welcome, of course.
posted by escabeche on Jul 26, 2008 - 7 answers

Any recommendations for published research on dealing gracefully with population decline? [more inside]
posted by trig on May 7, 2008 - 3 answers

I'm trying to figure out what percentage of people born in 1890 were still alive in 1920 and then 1950 and so on, until we can say for certain that every person born in 1890 is 100 percent definitely dead. I've looked at the 1890 and 1920 census, but they don't have mortality tables. [more inside]
posted by melodykramer on Apr 22, 2008 - 12 answers

You're the Wandering Jew. When do you start worrying about sleeping with your own descendants? [more inside]
posted by 235w103 on Apr 15, 2008 - 18 answers

What's the easiest way of generating a map similar to this? I have several state-level data series I want to display on maps of India. [more inside]
posted by matthewr on Mar 23, 2008 - 6 answers

How many college students are there in NYC? Any good sources/cites to back the statistic up would be great too! [more inside]
posted by pithy comment on Feb 14, 2008 - 5 answers

Does anyone know of a serious attempt to calculate the maximum potential global population (human)? [more inside]
posted by bluedogg27 on Nov 13, 2007 - 14 answers

I'm looking for a tool (preferably free) that will provide population data for the area within a defined radius of a point on a map. [more inside]
posted by brain_drain on May 21, 2007 - 11 answers

Is it possible to find out the census of Bosnian immigrants (or the Bosnian Population in US) in the USA, for each individual state? If so, how can I go about doing that task? I am working on a Bosnian/American statistics maps and I am in a need of state census reports for each state. I don't know if this is hard to obtain, but some helpful leads would be great. Thanks in advance! [more inside]
posted by cheero on May 16, 2007 - 4 answers

Given today's global population sample, at what age are you older than the majority of people on earth? [more inside]
posted by milarepa on Dec 14, 2006 - 10 answers

Is there a study outlining the reasons that childbirth rates tend to be higher for lower income people not just in the US but worldwide? Beyond religious reasons - and above and beyond farming reasons (presumably even in the US when farming was a bigger part of the workforce, more kids meant more "free" workers to tend and pick crops) ... is it some immortality gene driving that? Is it as banal as having nothing better to do?
posted by jbelkin on Nov 16, 2006 - 26 answers

How many dogs per person do people have in various cities? Also, how many cats? [more inside]
posted by Robert Angelo on Nov 16, 2006 - 3 answers

I am looking for sources that give the weight of the earth, volume of all the oceans, total acreage on the planet, total current population and guestimated total weight of said population. [more inside]
posted by goalyeehah on Aug 21, 2006 - 11 answers

Starting with Sumer, approximately how many human beings have died? [more inside]
posted by milarepa on Jul 21, 2006 - 11 answers

How many people have walked the earth? [more inside]
posted by Haarball on Mar 30, 2006 - 12 answers

How much life can our planet sustain? [more inside]
posted by jammer on Feb 26, 2006 - 26 answers

Where can I find a world or US map where the size of each country/state reflects its population? [more inside]
posted by hermitosis on Dec 9, 2005 - 5 answers

When did the population of the US (or its preceding colonies) surpass that of the UK? Any links to this sort of historo-demographic information for the layman (ie, in easy to digest form)?
posted by dash_slot- on Oct 20, 2005 - 7 answers

Why does nobody take population growth seriously? [more inside]
posted by londonmark on Oct 4, 2005 - 43 answers

Do population statistics for U.S. cities typically include or exclude college students? [more inside]
posted by ZenMasterThis on Sep 27, 2005 - 4 answers

So I was watching Wong Kar Wai's _Fallen Angels_ last night and Laurie Anderson's song _Speak My Language_ came on. The refrain was 'now that the living outnumber the dead' and got me thinking, my question: Has the living population of the earth ever outnumbered the number of all those who have come before us and died? Does it now? This seems a reasonable event to occur at some point given exponential growth, I just haven't been able to figure out when such a thing has/would happen(ed). Thanks!
posted by prettyboyfloyd on May 9, 2005 - 10 answers

Hi..
I wanna know how many people live in the world.
posted by Octaviuz on Oct 21, 2004 - 5 answers

Life span, longevity and history... (MI)

I had an argument the other day with my friend concerning longevity and life span through history. He claims that people of history would have been lucky to live to be old and that most people died in their 30's or 40's. He added that people were practically married at 15, had kids and worked hard and died young.

I disagreed with him. Practically all historical figures seem to have lived into old age and the stories I have read and heard from historical accounts makes it seem as though there were plenty of old people around. It's not like old men and women are a modern thing.

My thinking is that the numbers that are often cited, 35 year life expectency for example, are only so low because of the high frequency of infant death. Who's right? Can you please use links to back up your arguments? [more inside]
posted by crazy finger on Aug 23, 2004 - 38 answers

Can anyone recommend a good book on US demographics? Ideally, I'd like an overview of major demographic trends, with engaging vignettes demonstrating the impact on individual communities etc etc. I'm especially interested in the geography / demographics intersection - how is the population distribution changing? Who's going where?
posted by lbergstr on Aug 15, 2004 - 9 answers

I heard that the amount of people alive today is greater than the total amount that have died in human history. I understand it's speculative, but is there any truth to it? If not, will it be true at some point?
posted by SimStupid on Feb 8, 2004 - 6 answers