I know 6 million isn’t a lot compared to the 8 billion people alive today, but just think, a lot of holocaust victims probably would’ve had more kids had they not been killed. I have a feeling our population may have grown quite a bit more if all those victims were never killed.
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Probably almost exactly the same. 70–85 million people died as the result of World War II, the holocaust was actually a relatively small fraction of that, considering how much space it occupies in the public consciousness.
Well, since no one has yet commented I’ll offer you the cop-out answer (i.e. what Chat GPT had to say); ironically, though my father is a retired professor of mathematics and statistics, I freakin hate math, and, given the complex nature of the mathematics involved in such a question, which would require data regarding population growth rates etc, this is the best I can offer, I’m afraid:
THIS IS A DEEPLY COMPLEX QUESTION with many variables, but I can give you a very rough estimate.
If 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust had survived and reproduced at average global population growth rates, we can estimate how many descendants they might have today.
Assumptions for Calculation:
Average number of generations since WWII (~1945) to today (~2025) is about 3.5 (assuming ~23-25 years per generation).
Average number of children per couple varies, but if we assume a replacement rate of 2.5–3 children per woman, we can estimate population growth using historical Jewish fertility rates.
Survivor reproduction: Not all 6 million victims would have had children, but if we assume an average survival-based birthrate, many would have had families.
Very Rough Estimation:
If the 6 million had survived and reproduced, they might have had about 2.5-3 children per woman on average, meaning around 9-12 million children by the 1970s-80s.
These children would have had their own offspring in the following decades. By today (2025), we would be in the third or fourth generation, meaning the original 6 million could have led to around 25–35 million descendants in total, assuming standard population growth trends.
Thus, had those 6 million not been murdered, today’s world might have roughly 30 million more people (give or take several million).
The total deaths of either world war probably have a bigger impact
Possibly up to 1-2 billion people more, keep in mind, one major factor I’m thinking about how more religious Jewish people are often against abortion as a rule. It’s similar to how some pro-life people can be due to religion, but more extreme than other religions because most Jewish people believe they are "God’s chosen people" so aborting their children intentionally would go against God itself.
Those that are reform Jews are more likely to okay with abortion in cases of rape, incest, and/or due to genetic diseases. However, a decent amount killed during WW2 were more likely to not be reform at that time due to how easily the Nazis turned people against them. Those that survived and/or escaped the Nazis were more likely to be Reform Jews, since they wouldn’t stick out as much to their neighbors, avoiding most antisemitism.
Sure, some might have babies that die from Tay Sacs Disease, but many of them would have 3+ children per family. And that’s not thinking of any other groups that could have had children either….
It would depend on how we define "crimes" here. If it’s just dumpster diving or prostitution going up, I have no problem with that. These are crimes that don’t purposely harm anyone.
If rapes are going up by 70 percent, fair point.
However, I think there’s a different reason for this. Some criminals likely murdered their victims and framed others to get away with other serious crimes (like robbery, rape, etc.) and not be murdered by Kira themselves. I just think it was likely smarter ones that did multiple crimes.
Once Kira was dead, they no longer had to put in nearly as much work….
I think we wouldve hit a peak in population earlier and we mightve been in population decline by now.
The chart would probably look the same, just at different times.
I think the bigger thought here is what would the state of the world be?
I dont really know a lot about most of these things but ill list some interesting thoughts ive heard mwntioned and maybe someone else can weigh in.
Lets assume the holocaust and WW2 go hand in hand though technically hitler couldve gathered under a different banner than a supreme race.
Lots of european countries wouldnt have lots a large part of their work force due to males being sent to war.
Large scale bombing leveled lots of important infrastructure forcing it to be rebuilt.
Many technical advancements were propelled forward due to the urgency of the war.
The atomic bomb while a massive destructive device the science needed to build it provided many foundations that are crucial to modern day breakthroughs.