1QUESTION 1 OF 3
Answer & explanation
The official answer, with Fermi’s reasoning step by step.
Answer & explanation
Official answer
670,000,000
people
How to estimate it
Fermi’s official “Napkin math”
Halfway to the pole is the 45th parallel, which runs through northern Italy and Minneapolis. That puts most of Europe and nearly all of Russia above it. How much of their 750 million? Maybe 3 in 4, plus a bit of Canada and northern China.
- Europe and Russia
- ~750,000,000
- North of the line
- × 3/4
- Canada, northern US, northern China
- + 60,000,000
- 560M + 60M
- ≈ 620,000,000
Rounded assumptions may give a slightly different estimate. The official answer above is the game’s reference value.
Source calculation & reference
- People north of 45°N in 2025, GHSL population grid (EU JRC)
- ≈ 676,000,000
- Earth is slightly flattened, so halfway is 45.1°N
- - 9,000,000
- 676M - 9M
- ≈ 670,000,000
Reference cited by Fermi: EU JRC GHSL 2025 population grid: about 670 million people live north of 45°N, 8% of the world
How close was your guess?
Your comparison will appear here.
Compare by ratio: divide the larger number by the smaller one. The closer to 1×, the better.