ANY HUMAN EVER

Sources

Every life this site draws is assembled from the works below: 103 datasets and works of scholarship, supplying 50,845 rows across 54 tables. Every source here is used in at least one life story; if the project stops using a source, it'll disappear from this page.

Every source has a label. Here's what the labels mean:

extracted
I was able to download the actual data table from the cited author/publisher, and incorporated it directly.
attributed
A model (Opus or Fable) claims that this is what the cited source says. In my spot checks, I've found these claims to be accurate; still, since it's just a model claiming that author x says y, there's a nonzero chance that it's a hallucination.
authored
A model (again, Opus or Fable) claims that this fact is true, but can't cite a source for it. Smells a bit funny, and a higher chance of hallucination, even though this data gives a good appearance of being accurate. The Authored facts typically fill in gaps in otherwise better-sourced data.
mixed
This source is some combination of the above. It also includes data derived from sources, using a calculation that seems reasonable. For example, heights: the average height for a time and place is well-sourced, but the standard deviation around it is a reasonable assumption rather than a measurement, and the site combines the two to pick a plausible individual height.

Population & demography 11

RH41 Human Mortality Database: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Univ. of California Berkeley & French Institute for Demographic Studies (period life tables, both sexes, 1x1) extracted
supplies
period life tables (both sexes) single-year age x period
granularity
probability of dying at each single year of age, by period
where
bltper_1x1.txt - both-sexes period life table, 1x1; column qx (probability of dying) by Age and Year
backs
20 rows in life tables (the probability of dying at each age), mortality sex table (how differently men and women died at the same age)
access
free; registration
RH05 United Nations DESA, Population Division: World Population Prospects 2024 (life tables & crude birth rates) mixed
supplies
cohort-component life tables & crude birth rates
granularity
national/annual
backs
183 rows in crude birth rates table, fertility table, life expectancy table, life tables (the probability of dying at each age), region shares table (how humanity was distributed between the continents at a given date)
of those
74 read directly from the source; 109 claimed from the source, not verified
access
free; CC BY 3.0 IGO

Place & settlement 11

RH11 McEvedy, C. & Jones, R.: Atlas of World Population History, Penguin attributed
supplies
continental population shares at benchmark years
granularity
continental/benchmark
backs
10 rows in region geometry table (the map outlines of each continent), region shares table (how humanity was distributed between the continents at a given date)
access
print
RH32 Reba, M., Reitsma, F. & Seto, K. C.: 'Spatializing 6,000 years of global urbanization from 3700 BC to AD 2000', Scientific Data 3:160034 mixed
supplies
geocoded historical city populations (Chandler & Modelski)
granularity
city location & size by year
where
reba_cities.csv (with chandler.csv, modelskiAncient.csv, modelskiModern.csv) - columns city, lat, lon, year, population
backs
1681 rows in cities table
of those
1,676 read directly from the source; 5 derived from the source rather than read from it
access
free; CC BY
RH40 Scheidel, W. & Meeks, E.: ORBIS: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World attributed
supplies
modelled Roman-era travel distances & times. NOTE: a model of the ROMAN world's roads and sea lanes. The single classical-era travel row it backs carries no place restriction, so it also sets the walking range for a classical life in the Americas or East Asia
granularity
travel range (classical)
backs
1 row in travel ranges table (how far a person could realistically travel)
access
free
direct link
https://orbis.stanford.edu/#downloads

Health, illness & death 17

RH34 Eisner, M.: 'Long-Term Historical Trends in Violent Crime', Crime and Justice 30:83-142 attributed
supplies
long-run European homicide-rate series. NOTE: three limits, all of which reach the reader. It is EUROPEAN, but its era rows carry region_code=ANY and so set the violence share for the whole world where no continental row exists. It is a HOMICIDE series and excludes war deaths, while the bucket it drives is 'violence or war'. And Eisner reports rates per 100,000 per year; the conversion to a share of all deaths is not recorded anywhere
granularity
homicide rate by era
backs
4 rows in homicide rates table
access
free; academic
RH02 Gurven, M. & Kaplan, H.: 'Longevity Among Hunter-Gatherers: A Cross-Cultural Examination', Population and Development Review 33(2):321-365 attributed
supplies
cross-cultural forager mortality synthesis
granularity
age-band mortality
backs
39 rows in cause of death table, cause specifics table (the specific illness behind a broad cause of death), life tables (the probability of dying at each age), violence generic table (the background level of violence where no named conflict applies)
access
free; academic
RH21 McNeill, W. H.: Plagues and Peoples, Anchor Press/Doubleday attributed
supplies
historical epidemiology of major infectious diseases by era/region
granularity
era/region disease prevalence
backs
87 rows in biogeography table (which plants, animals and diseases belong to each region), cause of death table, cause specifics table (the specific illness behind a broad cause of death), disease burden table (how heavy the disease load was, as a multiplier), infectious diseases table, named epidemics table
access
print
RH115 Omran, A. R.: 'The Epidemiologic Transition: A Theory of the Epidemiology of Population Change', The Milbank Quarterly 83(4):731-757 (2005 reprint of Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly 49(4):509-538, 1971) attributed
supplies
stage theory of the shift in dominant causes of death from infectious/famine to degenerative and man-made, with the industrialising West as the classical model
granularity
era/stage, qualitative
where
'Receding Pandemics' and 'Degenerative and Man-Made Diseases' stages, pp. 737-745
backs
12 rows in cause of death table, cause specifics table (the specific illness behind a broad cause of death)
access
free (open-access reprint)
RH69 Steckel, R. H., Larsen, C. S., Roberts, C. A. & Baten, J. (eds.): The Backbone of Europe: Health, Diet, Work and Violence over Two Millennia, Cambridge University Press attributed
supplies
skeletal (paleopathology) evidence of health, trauma, violence and degeneration. NOTE: a European skeletal series, used here as the global agrarian/industrial pattern -- palaeopathology of this depth does not exist for most regions, so a life outside Europe is given Europe's shape of injury and degeneration
granularity
era skeletal health, European series
backs
11 rows in cause of death table, cause specifics table (the specific illness behind a broad cause of death)
access
print
RH36 UNODC: Global Study on Homicide 2019 mixed
supplies
modern regional homicide rates
granularity
homicide rate by region
where
data_cts_intentional_homicide.xlsx - intentional homicide rate per 100,000 by country and year
backs
14 rows in cause of death table, homicide rates table
of those
6 derived from the source rather than read from it; 8 claimed from the source, not verified
access
free
direct link
https://dataunodc.un.org/dp-intentional-homicide-victims

Food, farming & famine 10

RH63 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: FAOSTAT Food Balance Sheets (per-capita food supply by country and commodity) mixed
supplies
national per-capita food supply by commodity
granularity
country/year diet composition
where
Food Balance Sheets, element 'Food supply quantity (kg/capita/yr)' by country, item and year
backs
17 rows in diet items table (the foods actually eaten in a place and era)
of those
4 read directly from the source; 13 derived from the source rather than read from it
access
free
RH113 Khoury, C. K. et al.: 'Origins of food crops connect countries worldwide', Proceedings of the Royal Society B 283:20160792 (2016); data via Dryad extracted
supplies
primary regions of diversity for 151 crops, worldwide
granularity
crop x region of diversity
where
TableS1_crops_regions_table.xlsx - crop x primary region of diversity matrix (Dryad 10.5061/dryad.s08t2)
backs
125 rows in crop origins table (where each crop was first domesticated), diet items table (the foods actually eaten in a place and era)
access
CC0
direct link
https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.s08t2

Family, work & society 32

RH47 Buringh, E. & van Zanden, J. L.: 'Charting the Rise of the West: Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe... Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries', Journal of Economic History 69(2):409-445 (literacy) attributed
supplies
long-run literacy & book production. NOTE: manuscript and printed book production in WESTERN EUROPE. The place='ANY' literacy rows use it as the global classical/medieval rate, so a life outside Europe is given Europe's literacy trajectory; no comparable long-run series exists elsewhere
granularity
region/century literacy
backs
12 rows in literacy table
access
free; academic
RH116 Milanovic, B., Lindert, P. H. & Williamson, J. G.: 'Pre-Industrial Inequality', The Economic Journal 121(551):255-272; social tables via Lindert's Global Price and Income History Group extracted
supplies
social tables for 14 pre-industrial societies giving each class's share of the population and its mean income as a multiple of the society's own mean; the Gini and each class's percentile range are computed here from that Lorenz curve
granularity
social class, one benchmark year per society
where
the per-society tables under files/BLW/, columns 'Percentage of population' and 'Income in terms of per capita mean'
backs
216 rows in social tables (how a pre-industrial society divided its income between classes)
access
free (author's institutional site)
direct link
https://gpih.ucdavis.edu/files/BLW/India_1750.doc
RH60 Murdock, G. P.: 'Ethnographic Atlas: A Summary', Ethnology 6(2):109-236 attributed
supplies
cross-cultural coding of subsistence, sexual division of labour, and marital composition (monogamy/polygyny)
granularity
society x trait (Murdock codes)
backs
378 rows in occupations table, polygyny table (how common it was to have more than one wife)
access
print
RH52 Roser, M. & Ortiz-Ospina, E.: 'Literacy', Our World in Data (compiles UNESCO, Clio Infra & historical literacy-rate estimates by country and year) mixed
supplies
compiled historical & modern literacy rates
granularity
country/year literacy by sex
where
literacy.csv - columns Entity, Year, literacy rate; each row read against its own year window
backs
1530 rows in literacy table, literacy country table (measured adult literacy, by country and year)
of those
1,426 read directly from the source; 104 claimed from the source, not verified
access
free; CC BY
direct link
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cross-country-literacy-rates
RH48 Scheidel, W.: 'The Roman slave supply', in The Cambridge World History of Slavery, Vol. 1: The Ancient Mediterranean World (eds Bradley & Cartledge), Cambridge University Press, pp. 287-310 attributed
supplies
ancient slave-population share estimates. NOTE: the ROMAN slave supply. Its place='ANY' rows set the enslaved and free-commoner shares for every classical and bronze-age society, so a life in the Americas or East Asia is given Rome's social structure. The EUROPE and Italian rows are properly scoped; the ANY rows are an extrapolation
granularity
classical status shares
backs
10 rows in status table (the social rank a life was born into)
access
free; academic
RH119 US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), US city average, all items (series CUUR0000SA0) extracted
supplies
annual mean CPI-U, used to convert the 2011 international dollars that Maddison and the World Bank poverty line are quoted in into current prices, so that 'in today's money' is literally true
granularity
monthly index, averaged to annual
where
series CUUR0000SA0, annual means for the base and target years
backs
1 row in price base table (the inflation factor that puts every money figure in today's prices)
access
free (public API)
RH118 World Bank: World Development Indicators, Gini index (SI.POV.GINI) extracted
supplies
measured Gini index by country and year, used for the modern era where no pre-industrial social table reaches; the distribution's shape is then a lognormal of that Gini
granularity
country/year
where
indicator SI.POV.GINI, all countries, 1980-2023
backs
761 rows in income gini table (how unequally income was shared in a modern country)
access
free (CC BY 4.0, public API)
direct link
https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/all/indicator/SI.POV.GINI?format=json

Belief, language & burial 13

RH109 Model-supplied gap-fill (Claude Fable 5 and Claude Opus 5, 2026-08-05). Bounds and items written to close gaps no dataset we hold covers. Not a published work: see each row's `basis` for its stated reason. authored
supplies
model-supplied bound; per-row basis recorded
granularity
per row
backs
769 rows in cities table, diet items table (the foods actually eaten in a place and era), diffusion table (when a crop or technology reached a region), dwellings table, fertility caps table (the ceiling on how many children one life can have), income places table (which country and which social table stand in for a region), income standing table (where a household of a given standing sat in the distribution), languages table, marriage table, named conflicts table, named epidemics table, polygyny table (how common it was to have more than one wife)
access
n/a

War & conflict 2

RH37 Brecke, P.: The Conflict Catalog (violent conflicts 1400 AD to the present) and its pre-1400 extension (European conflicts, 900-1399) mixed
supplies
global catalog of violent conflicts since 1400
granularity
conflict dates & fatalities
where
Conflict-Catalog-18-vars.xlsx (3,709 conflicts, 1400 on) and Brecke-Pre-1400-European-Conflicts.xlsx (1,147 conflicts, 900-1399), both held at data/raw/brecke/
backs
4711 rows in named conflicts table
of those
4,403 read directly from the source; 308 claimed from the source, not verified
access
free

Climate & sky 7

RH99 Dhomse, S. S., Mann, G. W., Antuna Marrero, J. C., Shallcross, S. E., Chipperfield, M. P., Carslaw, K. S. et al.: 'Evaluating the simulated radiative forcings, aerosol properties, and stratospheric warmings from the 1963 Mt Agung, 1982 El Chichon, and 1991 Mt Pinatubo volcanic aerosol clouds', Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 20:13627-13654 mixed
supplies
satellite-era sulfur injection estimates for eruptions after the ice-core record ends
granularity
per eruption
backs
4 rows in volcanic events table (dated volcanic eruptions large enough to affect climate)
of those
2 read directly from the source; 2 claimed from the source, not verified
access
free; CC BY 4.0
RH97 Sigl, M. & Toohey, M.: Volcanic stratospheric sulfur injections from 500 BCE to 1900 CE, eVolv2k version 4 [dataset], PANGAEA extracted
supplies
bipolar ice-core sulfate to stratospheric sulfur injection (VSSI)
granularity
per eruption
where
column 'VSSI [Tg]' (stratospheric sulfur injection) by eruption year
backs
29 rows in volcanic events table (dated volcanic eruptions large enough to affect climate)
access
free; CC BY 4.0
direct link
https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.971968?format=textfile

Notes

Most figures are looked up directly from cited data: life expectancies, famine years, population shares, Halley's Comet dates, etc. A few are derived from a combination of sources. For example, to get what a household lived on, we use the average income for that country at the time (one source), how unequally that society divided its income (another source), and where a household of that standing landed within that division. Each standing is placed in a band of the distribution, and the household drawn at random within it. All three of these sources are listed separately below, and all three are cited where in the story we use that figure.

Money is always given in today's money, adjusted for inflation to 2026 prices, and for what a currency actually bought where it was spent, so that a day's income in 1750 and one in 1994 can be reasonably compared. The underlying income series are published in 2011 prices; they are re-based here using the US consumer price index. Where a place, a period or a way of living has no measured series, the figure is left out rather than estimated. That is why most lives are told nothing about money at all, and why no forager is given a "survived on this amount per day" figure; there was no market, no price and no money income to report.