[Tzeentch]

-- We have a pretty decent* idea of Shadowrun world population by compiling numbers from the Shadows of X books and SWA. Nath also tried to fill in some blanks, and you can see his numbers at http://nmath.free.fr/onyx/depot/sr.population.xls

-- I've created a rough map showing known and Nath's estimated populations here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jf475nelqrg06tz/WorldPop.pdf


* Well within an order of magnitude

[SnackerBob]

That puts the North American population at a slightly higher amount than it is now. Not a terrible amount higher, but still. SoNA was written back in 2001, so you'd expect them to have put it at a lower number than their current population numbers, given VITAS and all.

Or they just could have slapped numbers together in a way that "felt right", I guess.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Well, not exactly.  Diseases always hit "Third World" countries the hardest; there's a lessened capacity (or will) to properly distribute any inoculation or cure.  For two places with equal population, one that's First World (the UK, for example), one that's Third World (say, Ethiopia), you'll see a radically different impact of the disease.

Now, these are WAGs, but they're educated WAGs.  Using the example of Great Britain and Ethiopia, a standard population of 58 million (which they shared in 1996), and the declared 25% global die-off from the two VITAS plagues being the average baseline, you lose a total, between the two countries, of 29 million lives.  However, Great Britain would lose a third of that - call it 10 million, 17.24%, not quite one out of six people - while Ethiopia loses 19 million, 32.76%, or almost 1 out of 3 people.  It may, in fact, be even worse than that; Great Britain might lose 10%, 5.8 million, while Ethiopia would lose 23.2 million, or forty percent of their population.

The US/Canada/UCAS?  It's going to be the 10-15% benchmark.  Parts of Sub-Saharan Africa?  ... 50% might be generous.

[Crimsondude]

NAGNA put U.S. population loss from VITAS (1 & 2) at 1/3, and Cyberpirates! numerical death toll estimate for sub-Sahara Africa would be over 85% of the current population. VITAS was the Black Plague of the 21st century.


I don't know what to do with that.

[Tzeentch]

The numbers change depending on the writer. 

Cyberpirates, p. 92
* VITAS hit in 2011. Incidence in sub-Saharan Africa the highest known. 3/4 of population infected.
* Deaths from infection: 13.5 million in the Cote-d'Ivoiew and 16.8 million in Ghana. Secondary infections killed another 2.3 million coastal Africans.
* 10.5 out of 14 million dead in Madagascar.
* Quarter of the world population tied. 10% of that was in Africa.
* 750 million dead from VITAS in sub-Saharan Africa.

NAGNA
"From 2001 to 2029, the U. S. lost almost a third of its population to VITAS and more than a third of its territory to NAN."

[grid_roamer]

The numbers change depending on the writer. 

Cyberpirates, p. 92
* VITAS hit in 2011. Incidence in sub-Saharan Africa the highest known. 3/4 of population infected.
* Deaths from infection: 13.5 million in the Cote-d'Ivoiew and 16.8 million in Ghana. Secondary infections killed another 2.3 million coastal Africans.
* 10.5 out of 14 million dead in Madagascar.
* Quarter of the world population tied. 10% of that was in Africa.
* 750 million dead from VITAS in sub-Saharan Africa.

NAGNA
"From 2001 to 2029, the U. S. lost almost a third of its population to VITAS and more than a third of its territory to NAN."

That would be at least about 100 million in the UCAS and CAS. The world population shouldn't be to much above 3 billion. But theres no accounting for repopulation....

[Crimsondude]

That was my favorite excuse for why meta racism isn't so bad. After that kind of death toll, people were happy to have any children, even if they had pointy ears or whatever dwarf babies look like.

[Mirikon]

Indeed. At the time, people (outside the Black Lodge, natch) were happy for ANY children. It wasn't until people started Goblinizing into orks and trolls that things got really nasty. Which isn't to say there wasn't meta-racism before then, but it wasn't at 'blow up Chicago' levels.

[Crimsondude]

VITAS 2 also struck around the same time as Goblinization, so I can totally see why trogs really got the shaft on that.

[Mirikon]

Yeah. Whole world's going crazy, and so that fear and anger turns somewhere.

[Longshot23]

And then there's the odd claims of VITAS-3 (and -4) being "in development" . . .

[grid_roamer]

Not many events in real world  history have lasted over the course of a century without claims of willful vectors(people) carrying to spread. 

[ImaginalDisc]

Not many events in real world  history have lasted over the course of a century without claims of willful vectors(people) carrying to spread. 

It would make more sense to blame dragons than a newborn baby with tusks, but it's like the old joke about leather.

Why do animal rights activists attack fur more than leather? Because it's much safer to throw paint on an old lady in a fur coat than a biker gang.

People seem to consistently blame the most vulnerable groups for their problems.

[Parker]

Gotta agree with ya there.

[Nath]

It would make more sense to blame dragons than a newborn baby with tusks, but it's like the old joke about leather.

While UGE only affected newborn children (about 10% of birth in 2011, before gradually stopping over the following years), goblinization affected persons of any age from 2021.

Not that it removes much reasons to blame them.