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Subscribe to RSSBased on the world's demographics, the typical human is a 28-year-old Chinese man — but humanity's most common face could be radically different in just 20 years' time.
The "typical face" of our species was unveiled this week in the National Geographic video below, and it's featured as well in a poster supplement in the March issue of National Geographic magazine. The typicality project is part of a special report on global human population, which is expected to hit 7 billion by the end of this year.
So how do you judge typical, and why does the "typical human" look the way he does? For National Geographic, the yardsticks have to do with averages and pluralities.
For example, the world population's average age is 28, which is factored into the face's look. There are slightly more men than women on Earth, which is why the "typical" human is male. And the world's largest ethnic group is Han Chinese, making up an estimated 1.1 billion of the global population, which is why the magazine's editors went with an Asian look.
As for the specific look of that face, that's based on an visual averaging process conducted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which can draw upon tens of thousands of face photographs collected for a variety of databases over the past decade. One of these databases is part of a long-range study on face-recognition software for Asian ethnic groups. (Which sounds slightly scary.)
The fuzzy, averaged-out image was passed along to digital artist Joe Lertola of Bryan Christie Design, who re-created the face photo for National Geographic's poster using 7,000 computer-generated human figures. An interactive graphic on National Geographic's website provides more detail about the creation of the face and lets you zoom in on the composite image.
Here are a few more factoids about the typical human:
- He's right-handed, because more people are righties than lefties.
- He makes less than $12,000 a year, in line with the world's average income.
- He doesn't have a bank account, but he does have a cell phone.
Because National Geographic defines its typical ethnic group as the biggest plurality in the world population, that ethnicity could change over time — and in fact, the population of India is projected to surpass the Chinese population by 2030. At that time, India is expected to have more than 1.53 billion people, while China is expected to reach its peak population of 1.46 billion and begin a slow decline. By 2030, the total tally of the world's population will be well on its way to a projected peak of 9 billion or more.
If current trends hold true, the generic face of humanity will eventually be Indian, not Chinese. And there may be more changes in store as global population shifts. Isn't that just typical?
Update for 12:30 a.m. ET March 5: A lot of the commenters are wondering whether it's really fair to use an all-Chinese face as a symbol for the world's entire population — and John Tomanio, senior graphics editor for National Geographic magazine, agreed that the concept is open to debate.
"There are many ways to define 'typical,' that's true," he told me in a follow-up phone call. The decision to go with an average Chinese face was based on the idea that the world's "largest ethnic group was Han Chinese."
"We didn't mean it to be provocative," Tomanio said. "But afterward we realized, 'OK, people might want to talk about this.'" Which is fine with him. So feel free to talk about this in the comment section below, but please take the high road rather than the low road in your discussion. The Cosmic Log community has a reputation to uphold. ;-)
More on population:
- Worries about the world population in 2050
- Census: U.S. population growth slowest since 1940
- Falling birth rate to slow Muslim population growth
- Technology helps China brace for population growth
Join the Cosmic Log community by clicking the "like" button on our Facebook page or by following msnbc.com science editor Alan Boyle as b0yle on Twitter. To learn more about Alan Boyle's book on Pluto and the search for planets, check out the website for "The Case for Pluto."
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The typical person is chinese and the typical product is made in china. Is there anything else we should know? At least I make a lot more than his sweatshop salary of 12k/year. And I think I have a lot more to brag about, if you know what I mean ;)
OMG you're so cool!!! to have the luck of the cosmic draw of being born in a rich(er) country, with genetics that might make you bigger than others (but, most likely, much smaller than certain others), and apparently nothing else to boast of, you are way better than the typical 28 year old, han chinese person! WAY BETTER!
Your statement cracked me up. LMAO "At least I make a lot more than his sweatshop salary of 12k/year", and you have more to brag about. I don't think I should be laughing, for political correctness sake lol.
This is jumpthesnark-3136406's daily routine:
12am-7am: sleep
7:01am-4:30pm: ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK (30 minute lunch break)
4:31pm-11:59pm: ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK (45 minute dinner break)
All the while living a 100% politically correct lifestyle with no humor in it.
what_the_81 said: "And I think I have a lot more to brag about, if you know what I mean ;)"
So please tell everyone just what exactly do you believe you have a lot more of, than the commenters' stereotyped, composite photo of a typical Asian male, and what do you think people's responses will be as to what you believe you have, "a lot more of," ...and why?
If you REALLY want to BRAG, then say what it is, and not imply it.
This is easily the most boring presentation of minimal information I have seen in a long time.
And I personally can't wait until the world is populated by a mixture that turns us all a lush, golden color like those of mixed race in Hawaii.
Actually the average Chinese person in China makes around 3000 USD.
Adjusting for inflation it comes around at 20,000 dollars.
Jumptheshark must be jealous of another "member", what a deushe!!!
oh damn you must be so proud to be have more to brag about than this average fictional character. brownie points for you.
My penis is bigger than his
Well I'm from Texas, and as they say, everything is bigger in Texas. Sucks when I'm travelling though... shrinkage!
We come to this country with nothing but the clothes on our backs; yet, we are not the ones standing on the corner asking for a handout. My people will ALWAYS be far superior to your kind; academically, financially, and socially.
Whites are delusional to believe that they are superior to other ethnicities, due to their arrogance and narcissism; when in reality, they are the biggest scumbags in the world, who just squander all the opportunities they are given in a rich and developed country such as the U.S., then bitch and complain about it later and find any/every other ethnic group to blame for their shortcomings in life.
Well, that's because there's so damn many of them!
I was not at all surprised to see the face of a Chinese man. Looking at the headlines, my first thought was population numbers.
Laughingallthewaytothebank
That's what they call stereotyping. It's a form of racism.
You mean the stereotyping that is ubiquitous in the responses to this article?
Btw, stereotyping is a form of prejudice and not racism.
Laughingallthewaytothebank:
You've never heard of the term "racial stereoptype"?
Google it. You're gonna learn something about yourself....besides the fact that you're in denial.
Geez people relax...It's simplly a kind of 'averaging'...don't take it so hard....
"Racial stereotyping" is a form of racial prejudice. Racist and prejudice are two very different words that can't be easily interchanged.
Racist -
A person with a prejudiced belief that one race is superior to others
Discriminatory especially on the basis of race or religion
Prejudice -
A prejudice is a prejudgement: i.e. a preconceived belief, opinion, or judgment made without ascertaining the facts of a case.
A person can be prejudice about ice cream, if he's never had it before, but was told by someone that it tastes horrible and makes a prejudgement that therefore he won't like it. He can't be racist towards ice cream, since it has no race.
We're splitting hairs here Tim, but it's obvious we have someone who hates all white people.
Let's just put it this way. The long and short of it is...all racism is stereotyping but not all stereotyping is racism.
If Laughingallthewaytothebank saw a white person on the street, he would obviously have equal disdain for that person as the one that is standing beside him. Not because he knows that person, simply due to the fact that they are caucasion.
Whites are delusional to believe that they are superior to other ethnicities, due to their arrogance and narcissism; when in reality, they are the biggest scumbags in the world
If someone were to refer to a black person like this, would it not be racism or would it be someone being prejudice?
Call it what it is.
There is enough hatred and bigotry in the world already...
Please leave Ice Cream out of it!!!!
The only thing ice cream can be charged with is being delicious...
lol!
I find it so disheartening to see all of the different forms of ignorance on this page, based on a computer generated statistical image. The U.S. has its poor, it's weak and it's hungry, as does China. The reason we do not see as many Asian homeless is because the Asian homeless are stuck in ASIA. I really had higher hopes for these comments.....it really is a shame.
Yeah whats that, a bigger nose? back hair? well for sure it isn't brain size.
bigbillyD
Why is your name bigbilly? what is so big about you? did you buy something big to compensate for something that you were born with that is really small?
Laughingallthewaytothebank, don't make racist comments. You are suspended for a day for violating # 5 of the Code of Honor.
I don't think I've ever seen anyone who looks close to that. Then again I do not live in an area with a lot of asian people.
You might be making a point. There are 9 million han chinese males, yet the study shows that they are typical in a global population of 7 billion people??? That's like choosing 9 people with similar facial features to represent 7,000 people!
That's 9 million 28 year old Han Chinese males.
But didn't China ALWAYS have more people than the rest of the world? Wouldn't that mean the typical face was asian for the past millenia or so???
WHEW what a releif
Maybe it's because I am not Asian but I happen to think that Asians are the least fortunate in the looks department compared to any other race in the world.
I hate ugly people too!
How useless of you - and how negative to your own spirit.
Oh really? What makes the Chinese "less fortunate" in looks? That guy is rather nice-looking. Certainly not ugly.
I agree...he's ugly
Look yourself in the mirror, much?
It's all perceptive. I think asians are the most attractive in the world.
I always thought oriental women were extremely hot. Just wish someone could genetically alter them with some bigger boobs and a bigger butt.
A friend of mine once told me that average is uncommon for asians. They fall into 1 of 2 categories. Jackie Chan or Lucy Lu. (sp?)
National Geographic should do another study....the typical American...if they used this blog and all the comments, this is how it would turn out: Based on the average comments of this blog, the typical American is bitter, thinks that they are better looking and smarter than other races. They have zero tolerance for other cultures or ethnicities. They will also be eventually wiped out, not Americans, but the typical American. Eventually the new generations will grow to become tolerant, and in fact the cultures WILL become multicultures, and the world will hopefully be a better place.
I'm torn between completely argreeing with you and defending the citizens of my country...But when it comes down to it, you're right. That IS the typical American. I honestly hope that some day we'll wake up and remember what "American" used to mean, and what it used to stand for. Now...It's all about money, I s'pose. Not the American people, or the American values.
There are people who remember that, though. There are Americans who aren't completely worthless, and many of us are tolerable and open-minded about a variety of things, cultures and ethnicities included...It's just that typical again. Too many of us don't realize that what we "have" isn't real, and our "fortune" won't last forever. We aren't built on hard work anymore, and our society has become divided...
Very interesting article. I'm very curious as to what the future 'typical face' will look like...'Cause who knows?
gorgeousasians.tumblr.com
The "average human face" presented in the image above looks Chinese because ONLY Han Chinese males were used to produce it. Just because Han Chinese are the largest ethnic group and there are "slightly more men than women on Earth," I do not believe this is an accurate image of what mankind looks like on average. This would be what everyone looked like on average if we were ALL Han Chinese males of about 28 years of age.
of course they're not comparing all races, that would be painstaking work. But based on the knowledge that 1. there are more men than women 2. Han Chinese outnumber pretty much all other races, and so on. This is the most common man found on earth, and therefore the "average human face."
It's the most typical man (homogeneous in several different demographics), not everyone in a blender.
are you retarded? read what the video says.. this is the most typical face statistically. it doesnt mean that this is what mankind looks like. read and THINK before you say something.
asian women rock
Meh. Depends on the woman.
Yeah, some asian women are smokin' and others aren't. Every race has it's good and bad.
She bangs .... she bangs ...
OMG. Except for the smile with the crooked teeth, that IS William Hung!
Sorry. I'll go back to my political correct life now...
I blame Obama, the Gays, John Kerry, Menudo, Betty White, Sara Palin, and my underpants!
LMAO!!! This just made my Morning!
It's generous of you to spread the blame around. That way, no one feels slighted that their name wasn't men tioned.
The underpants thing.....I don't know, do your bras talk to you too? ( Anyone remember 'Living Bras'? ). There are some people, certain people that you might want to talk to.....they're not scary, it's O.K. to take a friend in with you for support, it's alright.....they're not going to send you away...just go into the office & relax.
And no, I am not talking about the sales clerks in the lingerie dept.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And yes, this is meant as a joke, before anyone takes it seriously & gets upset.
It kind of takes some of the fun out of posting a joke when you feel you have to say something like this.
Hey I know that person, and they look so familiar, I just knew it..
Looks like Alan Boyle is having a slow day...
Well, it is 5PM on a Friday.
Actually, it's been a horribly busy day ... with the failure of the Glory mission, delayed launch of X-37B, dealing with other stories with a relatively short staff in the office. Have to remember that the blog is just a little part of what I do, and I'm not nearly done yet. Miles to go, my friend.
Fizzled: Agree with you 100%
So what is the point of this averaging? It seems a great waste of money(Not sure about the talent)
If you are going to produce an average of the human race you would take sample sets from every ethinicity on the planet then combine them.
Wait, don't tell me. Was this backed by the Fox network? It seems to fall in line with their thinking. Except of course they would only average American white male republicans.
JD4U, you're correct about Fox News. Given from what their political commenters appear to say most of the time, they want their television viewership to believe that mainly the views of, "American white male republicans" are the most "right" and the most "superior" kind of people in the entire nation, and on the entire planet, for all time. It tells you a lot about their particular type of corporate culture, and its also a reflection of the very narrow values and of the personal belief systems of Fox News' management.
At least part of your "handle"is indickative, Fox News is "Fair and Balanced" they always have both sides of the story, unfortunately, that does not always agree with the Politburo or the Propaganda Ministry / Soros/ Center for Progress or any number of Union rags and Socialist "media" outlets but "oh well", Fox News viewership far outstrips any other demographic, just because Chinese males have small parts does not make them inferior their brains and work ethic make up for it, I personally do not find Asians attractive, even when they are performing fellatio on me, I certainly do not find blacks attractive either since I am white, I prefer my own race that is obviously true except for a small percentage of white women who prefer "The Member" Hang with your own seems to work best in spite of the Liberal view that we should homogenize.
Those people who speculate that the supposed 'gray aliens' said to be seen every now and then - you know, the ones with the large heads, big eyes, no real nose to speak of, and a very slight mouth - are potentially descendants of today's humans that have somehow traveled back in time to the early 21st century in order to observe us do make an interestingly cogent point.
Just what will people look like when they've all effectively interbred? Not too light, not too dark, probably with dark eyes, though, and with less prominent features. I'm doubtful as to whether time travel will ever get figured out barring some tremendous discovery and new understanding of physics, but some thousands of years from now, 'humans' may very well look like what some people today identify as 'grays'.
Come on, there are ugly and attractive people in every ethnicity. I can give you three hot Asian men. Takeshi Kaneshiro, Onra and Dennis Oh.
Yes Sarena I'm with you!!!!!!!
The most average face as viewed in a steamed up bathroom mirror?
Yea right, Most of the world eats rice too. So what. The typical face is wherever you are at in the world. The typical face in my town in the USA isn't chinese!!
might soon be lol
It's the most typical face IN THE WORLD, not in your town. Do you not know the difference?
it isnt the world... the fact that there are about 3 billion other people that arent chinese would say that the average face wouldnt be JUST chinese
Let me guess..the typical face in yor town has bubba teeth? jk haha
We are going to see a lot more hardship before the world's population swells to 9 billion. We cannot sustainably feed the 7 billion people inhabiting the earth now. So how are we possibly going to feed 2 billion more?
If we were to take major steps today at reducing the population - not growth, mind you, but the total number of people - then we might have a bare shot at bringing the population back in line with what the earth can support (roughly 3 billion people, sustainably). We need to reduce the average birth rate to something less than 2 babies per couple (or woman, or man, depending on how you want to measure it) world-wide. We also need to take steps to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources so that we can reach a sustainable population without hitting a food crisis.
Think I'm nuts? Then answer these questions:
I am sure you can find a short-term answer to several of the questions above individually. But taken collectively, they all point to overconsumption of resources, which is ultimately caused by overpopulation. Here are two more questions to get you thinking:
I have attempted to show that the human population is not predisposed to manage itself as a population. I have also attempted to show that this lack of management is already having visible effects today. The most important question is:
What can we do about it?
Didn't bother reading the whole comment, but yes I agree with you. By 2030, we will be strippin the earth of 2 worlds worth of materials and food. This is absolutely crazy. The only way we would able to keep on in this direction is is we transport a large portion of us to create new homes on the moon and mars.
Actually, we can feed them all, if our government would get rid of subsidizing crops. My father got paid to NOT grow certain foods each year. The commodities market is a price fixing scheme. They want a certain amount of wheat, barley, corn... If there were too much of one thing, then the price would fall and the American and World citizen would be the winners at the supermarket.
It all points collectively to greed, mismanagement, and following after things instead of helping others.
I don't remember Earth coming with a manual that specifically states how many people it can sustain.
Good job of painting the picture Population. As an analogy, I have been comparing humans to ants for some time now. Ants consume all resources in the area they inhabit and then move on to other areas. We are doing the same thing and families like those idiots on TV, the Duggars, are just helping to accelerate the population growth (just think if each of their 20 or so kids has "only" half as many children as their parents did), which in turn helps accelerate the consumption of the resources. The big problem is that we have no where else to go. We are so doomed as a species!
Dear PopulationIsEverything,
You stated, as I quote from above:
"I am sure you can find a short-term answer to several of the questions above individually. But taken collectively, they all point to overconsumption of resources, which is ultimately caused by overpopulation"
MY opinion as far as "overconsumption" of EDIBLE resources in the USA, is Obesity. WHY? Because the ammount of CONSUMABLE resources that carry the number of calories each and every day for those obese individuals could possibly feed a family of 4, 8...who knows? Give 'em a pill darn it! One that would keep 'em from feedn' and breedn'!
Populations in the Industrialized world are falling. As people become more affluent they tend to have less children. Populations are rising in the less developed and less educated areas of Africa and Asia. These areas are the least able to feed their people yet their populations are growing at an alarming rate.
Controlling birthrates is a common sense proposition, however, it is unlikely that it will happen as those living in the undeveloped or poorer countries have little education, economic opportunities or birth control. Some religions prohibit birth control, which makes the prospect of slowing the growth even more challenging. Add to the mix that birth control of specific races may be seen as an attack on those races and the situation becomes even more complicated.
There is no doubt that thousands of people are starving to death each day. There is no doubt that if measures are not implemented immediately to curb out of control population growth in poverty stricken countries, our world will be facing a crisis of epic proportions. The desperation for food will eventually lead to civil unrest and all out world war.
I'm not sure it'd be completely accurate to state that as people become more affluent they tend to have less children, at least not in a cause-and-effect kind of way. Rather, as societies become more affluent, the standard of living people expect to enjoy is costly enough they choose to have fewer children.
In the developing nations, where people normally have little and there isn't much to be had, a man's family is his status symbol instead of his home, an automobile, etc. The more wives and children a man has, the greater his social standing either is or at least appears to be. There's something in human nature about this. In my community the last few years, there is a shocking number of unemployed or barely employed young men who are right proud of the number of children they've fathered with various young women, and they seem to be equally proud of not having contributed financially towards those children's upkeep at all...being a deadbeat dad seems to be some kind of game to them. Go figure...
I thought the recent picture of Betty Crocker that they put together is more reflective of multiethnicity than the cop out that National Geographic decided to do; what they really chose for the picture was the MODE, not the mean or median.
Right, this is definitely not an "average" human being. By this measure, the "typical human" would flip from Chinese to Indian on the day that India's population exceeds China's.
Any trip to Disneyland will confirm the legitimacy of these scientific claims.
I find it all disturbing. until the mid 60's I would have said the White European was the typical face. but thanx to the genocidal policy of multiculturalism that only applies to european countries. also the contraceptive pill which our women seem to be the only ones to take. whether or not europeans will exist in 100 years will be humanities loss. I agree with TiGor's point about Grey's and have though similar. I watched a documentry about the cronological measurement of humanities evolution. they came to the conclusion we are due for another evolutionary leap in 22,000 years and it's excelerating. so who knows what we will look like in 50/100,000 years. after we have consumed earth's resources.
Are you sure he isn't a white guy, aged 40, living in Tennessee? All those demographics just described me, except I have a bank account. (Although there's only 10 bucks in it.)
how many asian male pornstars are there ? glad to be scandinavian :)
oh, except for eldrick woods ...?
It's incorrect to call that face the "average" face, or any of the other traits the author called "average." For instance, "the average human is male." Wrong - the majority of the world population is male. The average person would be, for instance, 51% male and 49% female. Same with the "average" being right-handed. No, the average person would be ambidextrous with a certain degree of favoritism for using the right hand. The racial ethnicity would be a weighted-average blend of all racial ethnicities, weighted by what percentage of the world population they are.
National Geographic is way off on this.
Right, I tried to stay away from inappropriate use of the word "average" for things that were claimed as "typical" in this exercise. For example, there's no such thing as an average gender. The face is what I would call an averaged-out, fuzzed-out rendition of facial features for Chinese men ... and I do agree that you could probably do that sort of weighted averaging for a true multiethnic face, which would be way cooler.
That face recognition technology rocks. Hopefully when our governments become more trustworthy we'll be able to put dna into a database for...maybe not. People are crazy. Then thre will just be a rise in disappearances and arson.
PopulationIsEverything, asked the question: "What can we do about it?"
Save for a small minority in this world, unfortunately, Nationalism, War, Racism, Religion, Poverty, Disease and Ignorance have always manage to prevent our global and collective life spans from enjoying older and happier lives.
So you want to reduce the world's population to a sustainable level?
Without resorting to the seven major factors I've listed, EDUCATION then, seemingly becomes EVERYTHING. What we learn, determines what kind of choices we exercise that will make a positive difference for us all.
You left out the biggest culprit: RELIGION :-(