Whose the majority, males or females?

This entry is part 35 of 40 in the series Deep Questions

As kids, we were told women outnumber men. After looking up the actual stats, we’re confident that’s just something moms tell their sons to scare them.According to GeoHive.com, a site specializing in population statistics, there are around 3,248,080,000 males on the planet and around 3,214,983,000 females. That translates to men accounting for 50.25% of the population. Interestingly, ratios vary from country to country. For example, the United States has around 4.8 million more females than males. However, in China, males outnumber females by nearly 36 million. In Cuba, the number of males and females is about equal, give or take a few thousand.

Population growth is an interesting (and sometimes scary) topic. For those interested in learning more, the Web offers a slew of sites to aid in your research. This “population clock” allows visitors to compare past, present, and future populations. And who knows, by the year 3030, maybe our alien overlords will outnumber men and women put together.

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B. John

B. John Masters writes about democracy, moral responsibility, and everyday Stoicism at deep.mastersfamily.org. A lifelong United Methodist committed to social justice, he explores how faith, ethics, and civic life intersect—and how ordinary people can live out justice, mercy, and truth in public life. A records and information management expert, Masters has lived in the Piedmont,NC, Dayton, OH, Greensboro, NC and Tampa, FL, and is a proud Appalachian State Alum.