⚠️This fact has been debunked
Both claims in this fact are inaccurate. According to the comprehensive 2022 PNAS study by Schultheiss et al., ant biomass equals approximately 20% of human biomass, not equal to it. The claim about ants making up 1/10 of total world animal tissue has no scientific backing in recent research. The study found ants have a dry carbon biomass of ~12 megatons, which exceeds wild birds and mammals combined but is far from 10% of all animal tissue.
Ants make up 1/10 of the total world animal tissue. The total biomass of all the ants on Earth is about equal to the total biomass of all the people.
Do Ants Really Outweigh All Humans on Earth?
You've probably heard the mind-blowing claim: the total weight of all ants on Earth equals the weight of all humans. It's been repeated in documentaries, classrooms, and viral social media posts. There's just one problem—it's not true.
A comprehensive 2022 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finally put hard numbers to ant populations worldwide, and the results are both fascinating and humbling for us humans.
What the Science Actually Says
Researchers analyzed 489 studies spanning every continent and major ecosystem to estimate Earth's ant population. Their conclusion? There are approximately 20 quadrillion ants on the planet (that's 20,000,000,000,000,000 individual ants). Their combined dry biomass totals about 12 megatons of carbon.
Here's the reality check: ant biomass represents only 20% of human biomass. We still outweigh them five-to-one. That said, ants do outweigh all wild birds and mammals combined, which is still pretty remarkable.
Where Did the Myth Come From?
The equal-biomass claim has circulated for decades, but it was based more on speculation than data. Before this 2022 study, scientists simply didn't have comprehensive global estimates. Earlier guesses assumed ants made up about 1% of all insects and worked backward from there—a rough approximation at best.
The myth persisted because it feels true. Ants are everywhere, astonishingly abundant, and collectively powerful. But feeling true and being scientifically accurate are different things.
Just How Many Ants Is That?
To put 20 quadrillion in perspective:
- For every human on Earth, there are approximately 2.5 million ants
- If you lined up all the ants head-to-tail, they'd circle the Earth over 560,000 times
- Ants represent just 1.2% of all terrestrial arthropod species, yet account for at least 6% of their total biomass
The distribution isn't even. Tropical regions host the highest ant densities, while some ecosystems have relatively few. The study found ants are especially dominant in tropical forests and savannas.
Why This Matters
Ants are ecological heavyweights regardless of how they compare to humans. They aerate soil, disperse seeds, control pest populations, and serve as food for countless other species. Their collective impact on terrestrial ecosystems is almost impossible to overstate.
The 2022 study also revealed concerning gaps in our knowledge. Large parts of Africa, Asia, and Central/South America remain understudied, meaning the true number could be even higher.
So while ants don't quite match our biomass, they're still among the most successful organisms in Earth's history. And unlike humans, they've been dominating ecosystems for over 100 million years—without wrecking the place.