How Many People Died in Noah’s Flood?
Do we have any estimate of how many people there were on Earth at the time of the flood?
The Genesis narrative indicates that Adam and Eve were charged with the responsibility to multiply and fill the earth (Gen. 1:28).
After some ten generations of human history, a span of at least 1,656 years had elapsed. This figure is based on the biblical genealogical records.
Moses recorded that “the earth was filled with violence” (Gen. 6:11, 13). This suggests a large population already.
The language in the Genesis record indicates a tremendously rapid expansion. This conclusion is further supported by the fact that the flood was intended to destroy all living creatures on the entire globe (Gen. 7:19, 22).
Based on a relatively conservative rate of human reproduction, John Whitcomb and Henry Morris estimated that the population of the earth at the time of the flood was approximately one billion people.
However, when Henry Morris wrote his book, The Genesis Record, in 1976, he opined that the earth’s population at the time of the deluge was in the neighborhood of seven billion (144). He had clearly expanded the figures on which the earlier estimate had been based.
We do not know precisely, but the figure must have been significant.
Sources
Morris, Henry. 1976. _The Genesis Record_. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker.
Whitcomb, John and Henry Morris. 1961. _The Genesis Flood_. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker.
