Human Extinction A Demographic Perspective

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Swanson, David A., Tayman, Jeff
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866908484007624704
author Swanson, David A.
Tayman, Jeff
author_facet Swanson, David A.
Tayman, Jeff
contents Studies that predict species extinction have focused on a range of flora and fauna but in regard to Homo sapiens there are, with one notable exception, no predictive studies, only considerations of possible ways this may occur. The exception believes extinction of Homo sapiens will happen in 10,000 years. We agree that extinction will happen, but we disagree on the timing: The work we present here suggests that if the current decline in birth rates continues, humans could be extinct by 2394. If we consider the absence of working-age people and the accompanying collapse of services, the survivorship rates would most likely be lower. Given this, it is plausible that extinction could occur around 2359. We also examined a scenario in which births ended in 2024, which revealed that Homo sapiens would become extinct in 2134. Given societal collapse, extinction under the zero births scenario could occur around 2089.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_07568
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Human Extinction A Demographic Perspective
Swanson, David A.
Tayman, Jeff
Populations and Evolution
Applications
Studies that predict species extinction have focused on a range of flora and fauna but in regard to Homo sapiens there are, with one notable exception, no predictive studies, only considerations of possible ways this may occur. The exception believes extinction of Homo sapiens will happen in 10,000 years. We agree that extinction will happen, but we disagree on the timing: The work we present here suggests that if the current decline in birth rates continues, humans could be extinct by 2394. If we consider the absence of working-age people and the accompanying collapse of services, the survivorship rates would most likely be lower. Given this, it is plausible that extinction could occur around 2359. We also examined a scenario in which births ended in 2024, which revealed that Homo sapiens would become extinct in 2134. Given societal collapse, extinction under the zero births scenario could occur around 2089.
title Human Extinction A Demographic Perspective
topic Populations and Evolution
Applications
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.07568