7.7 billion people on it,
until now.
Half of the world's population
has been snapped out of existence. Instantly.
If you happened to be one of the 3.8 billion people left
having survived this mass wipe out,
what would happen to you?
This is WHAT IF,
and here's what would happen,
if half the world's population suddenly disappeared.
With 50% of the population
disappearing in the blink of an eye
there would be mass chaos.
One thing that's bound to happen?
Plane crashes.
There are approximately 10,000
planes in the sky at any moment,
carrying over 1 million people.
Some of the people disappearing
in this mass elimination
are bound to be pilots flying planes.
This would be a problem for people on the
ground as well as for those in the sky,
since it would be completely unpredictable
where these unmanned planes would crash.
There would be hundreds of thousands of
car pile-ups and train crashes.
You wouldn't want to be
undergoing surgery at the time;
imagine lying on the operating table in
the middle of a procedure when,
all of a sudden, the surgeon disappears.
If you were to survive all of the chaos and
destruction that would follow this mass vanishing,
it wouldn't be such a joyous moment.
Half of your family, and
half of your friends would be gone.
Sorry about that.
However, once you get over the crushing and
confusing loss of your loved ones
this could be a good thing!
But not right away.
At first, civilization would have to deal with losing
people who held essential jobs around the world.
The number of world leaders,
police officers, firefighters,
and power grid workers
would all have taken a massive hit.
Making their jobs difficult or impossible to complete,
and in turn, affecting the
people who remained on Earth.
Massive blackouts would occur, and
people would be generally less safe.
For a short time, our
food supply would suffer severely.
With essential products being shipped
from all around the world, there's
less of a possibility of
people getting what they need.
The number of people who make food, sell it, and
ship it would be significantly reduced.
What happens after the dust settles?
And civilization is able to adjust to this new world?
Believe it or not, humanity has already dealt
with something very similar to this event,
known as the Black Death.
In the mid-1300s, Europe was met with a bacterial
infection that wiped out 25 million people —
equal to about half of the
continent's population at the time.
Although the world was met
with tons of death and despair,
there were also benefits that resulted from this event.
During a time where food supplies were scarce,
food became more plentiful due to there
being fewer mouths to feed.
The same could be applied to the world today.
Approximately 36 million
people die each year from hunger.
With 50% fewer people to feed, and the world
having the same amount of food as it did before,
the bellies of the world would be much more full.
The benefits wouldn't stop there.
Another thing that happened during the
Black Death that would happen in our scenario?
You'd be a lot richer.
Assuming the world's economy
stabilizes after this huge event,
you'd be able to charge a lot more for your skills.
You could end up being the only person in your
town who knows how to repair a car,
or perform surgery,
or even cook a decent meal.
With fewer people, your skills would be in higher
demand; resulting in you earning more money.
And speaking of money,
wherever you choose to live,
would be much cheaper
since there'd be so many more available homes.
You'd no longer be spending
your entire paycheck on rent.
And what about all the things
in the world that aren't human?
What would happen to them?
The Earth would slowly begin to heal
itself from climate change.
Fewer people means less pollution and
less harm to the environment.
With 50% less people on Earth,
there's a good chance we'd be able to live
comfortably on Earth for the next 100 years.
Unlike what will likely happen if we
kept our current population size.
Once you forget about the
horrible mass elimination that occurred,
this world sounds pretty good.
You'd be richer and fatter, and
the Earth would be healthier.
Unfortunately, in a
couple of centuries or so, we'd
most likely be back to where we started –
with an overpopulated planet.
But even if that happens,
the world may still end up surviving.
The core problem is
not how many of us there are but
how we use the planet and share its resources.
In theory, we could have 14 billion people
and still have a thriving planet,
as long as we use our resources correctly.
Now what would happen
if this were to actually happen,
and the world’s population suddenly doubled?
Well, that sounds like a story for another WHAT IF.
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