Humanity is 17 million tons (15 million metric tons) overweight, according to a study that calculates the adult portion of the human race's collective weight at 316 million tons (287 million metric tons).
That's the equivalent of about 170 military aircraft carriers of extra weight. Or in people weight, it's like having an extra 242 million people of average body mass on the planet.
This is more than just an attempt to make the human race feel uncomfortable about its waistline; looking at the collective mass of humanity can improve understanding of the effects of population growth, contends a team of European researchers.
"[United Nations] world population projections suggest that by 2050 there could be an additional 2.3 billion people," they write in research published online Sunday (June 17) in the journal BMC Public Health. "The ecological implications of rising population numbers will be exacerbated by increases in average body mass." [7 (Billion) Population Milestones]
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