Number of ants on Earth estimated at 20 quadrillion in new research

There are many more ants in the world than previously thought. In a new study, a group of international scientists estimate the number of ants at around twenty quadrillion. Converted, that means there are about 2.5 million ants for every person in the world.

The figure is significantly higher than previous estimates from the 1990s, when the number of aboveground ants was estimated by science at between one and ten quadrillion.

This 1994 study, carried out by two American biologists, was based on the density of ants in the southern regions of England and was then calculated for the whole world.

The findings of the new study, led by an ecologist from the University of Würzburg, are based on 450 other studies and include some 1,300 sites around the world.

Scouting shows that nearly two-thirds of aerial ants live in rainforests and savannahs. The actual number of ants may be even higher: there are no figures for some regions and habitats.

The researchers write in their article in the authoritative scientific journal PNAS that ants on Earth weigh more than all mammals and birds combined.

Insects form a crucial link in ecosystems, in part because they disperse plant seeds.