8 Billion Lives
Be born

Data sources

Every statistic in the game is labeled Sourced or Extrapolated. This is the full list of datasets behind them. The site may earn money, so only data whose licence allows commercial use is used.

  • UN World Population Prospects 2024: demographic indicators (medium variant). United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
  • UN WPP 2024: abridged life tables 1950-2023. United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
  • UN WPP 2024: abridged life tables 2024-2100 (projection). United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
  • World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform: percentiles of every survey year (2021 PPP). World Bank. Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP), percentiles, 2021 PPP (datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0063646). Licence: CC BY 4.0.
  • GeoNames: cities with population over 15,000. GeoNames geographical database (geonames.org). Licence: CC BY 4.0.
  • GeoNames: first-level admin division names. GeoNames geographical database (geonames.org). Licence: CC BY 4.0.
  • GeoNames: country info (ISO codes). GeoNames geographical database (geonames.org). Licence: CC BY 4.0.
  • Unicode CLDR: language use by territory. Unicode CLDR (cldr.unicode.org). Licence: Unicode License v3.
  • Unicode CLDR: English language names. Unicode CLDR (cldr.unicode.org). Licence: Unicode License v3.
  • Our World in Data: COVID-19 deaths and government response by country. Mathieu et al. COVID-19 Pandemic. Our World in Data (WHO and Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker data). Licence: CC BY 4.0.
  • UCDP Georeferenced Event Dataset 25.1: deaths in organized violence, 1989-2024. Davies, Pettersson & Oberg (2025). Organized violence 1989-2024. Journal of Peace Research. UCDP GED 25.1. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
  • NOAA NCEI/WDS significant earthquake database, 1950-2024, events with deaths. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Significant Earthquake Database. doi:10.7289/V5TD9V7K Licence: Public domain (NOAA).
  • IBTrACS v04r01 tropical cyclone best tracks since 1980. Knapp et al. (2010). The International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS). Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 91. doi:10.1175/2009BAMS2755.1 Licence: Public domain (NOAA).
  • US Census American Community Survey 2024 (1-year): income, age, schooling and origins for large US cities, via Census Reporter. US Census Bureau. 2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, tables B01002, B01003, B05002, B15003, B17001, B19013, B19081, B19301, B25010, B25064, C24010, B24011. Retrieved through Census Reporter. Licence: Public domain (US Census Bureau).
  • Statistics Canada 2021 Census, table 98-10-0055: household total income groups, census metropolitan areas. Statistics Canada. Table 98-10-0055-01 Household total income group by household characteristics (2021 Census of Population). Contains information licensed under the Statistics Canada Open Licence. Licence: Statistics Canada Open Licence.
  • Statistics Canada 2021 Census, table 98-10-0452: employment income by occupation, census metropolitan areas. Statistics Canada. Table 98-10-0452-01 Employment income statistics by occupation minor group, work activity during the reference year, age and gender (2021 Census of Population). Contains information licensed under the Statistics Canada Open Licence. Licence: Statistics Canada Open Licence.
  • US Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer: land area of places. US Census Bureau. 2024 Gazetteer Files, Places. Licence: Public domain (US Census Bureau).
  • Statistics Canada 2021 Census, table 98-10-0002: population, land area and density of municipalities. Statistics Canada. Table 98-10-0002-01 Population and dwelling counts: Canada and census subdivisions (municipalities) (2021 Census of Population). Contains information licensed under the Statistics Canada Open Licence. Licence: Statistics Canada Open Licence.
  • FAOSTAT: consumer price indices, food price inflation. FAO. FAOSTAT Consumer Price Indices. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
  • ILO SDG indicator 1.3.1: share of people covered by social protection, by kind (old-age pension, unemployment benefit, and more). International Labour Organization. ILOSTAT, SDG indicator 1.3.1: proportion of population covered by social protection floors/systems (ilostat.ilo.org). Licence: CC BY 4.0 (ILOSTAT terms; to confirm).
  • UN DESA International Migrant Stock 2024: stock by sex, destination and origin, 1990-2024. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2024). International Migrant Stock 2024. Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
  • UN DESA World Marriage Data 2019: marital status by age and sex, ever married, currently married, singulate mean age at marriage. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2019). World Marriage Data 2019 (POP/DB/Marr/Rev2019). Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
  • BIS selected residential property prices, nominal and real, quarterly. Bank for International Settlements. Residential property price statistics (data.bis.org/topics/RPP). Licence: BIS terms of use: free use with the source named (to confirm).
  • Our World in Data: divorces per 1,000 people (about 45 countries, mostly rich). Our World in Data, from national statistics offices, OECD, Eurostat and the UN Demographic Yearbook (ourworldindata.org/marriages-and-divorces). Licence: CC BY 4.0.
  • Our World in Data: marriages per 1,000 people (about 46 countries, mostly rich). Our World in Data, from national statistics offices, OECD, Eurostat and the UN Demographic Yearbook (ourworldindata.org/marriages-and-divorces). Licence: CC BY 4.0.
  • World Bank World Development Indicators, bulk download (every series the game reads is in this one file). World Bank. World Development Indicators (databank.worldbank.org). Licence: CC BY 4.0.

The people in the game are samples drawn from these figures. They are not real people, and the game is not a forecast: years after 2023 are one possible future. For credits and more detail, see sources and credits in the game.

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