- Human population dropped to 1,280 reproducing individuals 900,000 years ago
- This low population lasted for approximately 117,000 years
- Climate change in Africa during mid-Pleistocene transition likely caused collapse
Humans have been around on Earth for thousands of years, but there was a period when humanity was almost wiped out of existence. Around 900,000 years ago, the global population reached a precarious low of only 1,280 reproducing individuals and stayed like this for 117,000 years, according to a study.
The study published in the journal Science is based on a computer model developed by a group of scientists based in China, Italy and the United States. The findings show that human ancestors in Africa were on the precipice of extinction, well before our species, Homo sapiens, also known as modern humans, emerged.
For the study, researchers analysed genetic information from 3,154 present-day human genomes using a statistical method. It showed that 98.7 per cent of human ancestors were lost, with the findings corroborated by the gap in the fossil record, which possibly led to the emergence of a new hominin species that was a common ancestor to modern humans and the Neanderthals.
"This bottleneck is congruent with a substantial chronological gap in the available African and Eurasian fossil record," the study highlighted.
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What led to population collapse?
Though the exact cause of the sudden population drop is unknown, scientists posit that Africa's climate is to blame for it. The continent became much colder and drier during what's known as the mid-Pleistocene transition. The glacial periods became longer and more intense, leading to a drop in temperature and very dry climatic conditions.
Senior author Yi-Hsuan Pan said their findings about humanity's close shave with extinction "opens a new field in human evolution".
"It evokes many questions, such as the places where these individuals lived, how they overcame the catastrophic climate changes, and whether natural selection during the bottleneck has accelerated the evolution of human brain," said Mr Yi-Hsuan Pan, an evolutionary and functional genomicist at East China Normal University.
Despite the scary numbers, humanity bounced back and has now crossed the eight billion mark as of 2025.
