When would most human beings be awake?

[Robert Oz]

I wasn't quite sure in which sub-forum to post this (Science, Mathematics, etc. or Puzzles?), but I decided to post it here to reach more readers. I hope someone knows, or at least has seen it addressed somewhere on the internet.

My wife asked me an intriguing question the other night:

At what time (GMT) would most of the world's human population be awake?

Assuming that most people are awake during daylight hours, the best guess I could muster was "probably when the Pacific Ocean is in night".

Am I right? I haven't looked at populations of continents/countries/etc.

Can anyone do better than that?

[arthwollipot]

You'd have to look at relative population densities. As far as I know, there are more people per given land area in Asia than there are in Europe or the Americas. So there would be more people awake when China is awake.

[Robert Oz]

You'd have to look at relative population densities. As far as I know, there are more people per given land area in Asia than there are in Europe or the Americas. So there would be more people awake when China is awake.


Yeah, I did take that into consideration as well. My guess was Pacific Ocean in night with China just to the day side of twilight.

You would also have to take into account the date. For example, more daylight hours in the Northern Hemisphere in its summer. So date and time would have to be considered.

[Roboramma]

Yeah, I did take that into consideration as well. My guess was Pacific Ocean in night with China just to the day side of twilight.

You would also have to take into account the date. For example, more daylight hours in the Northern Hemisphere in its summer. So date and time would have to be considered.

Yeah, and things like holidays: everyone stays up late on chinese new year, so you can stretch further west that way.

[Luciana]

Wonderful question.

India is more densely populated than China, and it's more "vertical", so it's almost entirely inside GMT+5 (or 5.5, if you need to be that accurate). So if the sun is shining between GMT+5 to GMT +8, mere 4 time zones, you have India and China, and that's barely 1/3 of the world's population awake. Probably more with Southeast Asia included. Adding GMT+9 and you have Japan also. Then it would only be a matter of adjusting the "edges", to see how far you could stretch sunlight over the most populated areas.

[Robert Oz]

Excellent feedback!

I think by stretching out to GMT+9 to include Japan, we lose a significant chunk of North and South America. Is Japan worth it considering the United States is third most populace country and Brazil is fifth? Japan being tenth.

Of course, the populations of the USA and Brazil are spread over a much larger area. We would need to consider heads per square kilometre to determine where it is beneficial to shift that sunlight.

[macdoc]

When the opening of the Olympics were on. :biggrin:

[Robert Oz]

When the opening of the Olympics were on. :biggrin:


Brilliant! I think we may have a winner. :)

From wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Summer_Olympics_opening_ceremony):

It began at 8:00 pm China Standard Time (UTC+8) on August 8, 2008

Estimates of the global television audience varied: "around one billion" (Reuters); "experts estimated ... more than two billion" (Wall Street Journal); "2.3 billion" (MindShare); "Billions...probably the largest live television audience in history" (Bloomberg); "3 billion" (Sky News); "nearly 4 billion" (Xinhua); "estimated 4 billion" (McClatchy).


And from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population:

As of January 2009, the world's population is estimated to be about 6.756 billion.

[JoeTheJuggler]

Aside from time of day, I think it would be wise to take the season into account. I sleep a lot more when it's winter (in the northern hemisphere). I'd suspect I'm not the only one. I'd pick a day in the summertime, and then go from there.

I'm pretty sure the opening of the last Olympics was at a bad hour here in the U.S. I don't know anyone who stayed up to odd hours to watch any of it. Most of what I saw wasn't live. Maybe if it were an opening ceremony here, other people worldwide might be more apt to stay up late than us arrogant, self-absorbed Americans. :)

[In My Spare Time]

When the opening of the Olympics were on. :biggrin:

On that note, I wonder how many were up to see Obama sworn in last week.

[Robert Oz]

Aside from time of day, I think it would be wise to take the season into account. I sleep a lot more when it's winter (in the northern hemisphere). I'd suspect I'm not the only one. I'd pick a day in the summertime, and then go from there.


I agree, summer in the Northern Hemisphere is definitely the season for it, and with the Beijing Games being during this time and 60% of the world's population coming from Asia, I think macdoc hit the nail on the head.

China would be just after sunset and the rest of Asia would be in daylight. Surely, Japan would still be up and about on this night as well.

[Robert Oz]

On that note, I wonder how many were up to see Obama sworn in last week.

That would be up there as well, but unfortunately you still get the Pacific Ocean taking up a lot of the sunlight.

Even with so many people staying up to see Obama sworn in, I think the Beijing Games would still be the Number 1 Contender.

[arthwollipot]

On that note, I wonder how many were up to see Obama sworn in last week.I know at least two people here in Australia who stayed up for it. And it was on at something like 3am here.

[Deneb]

I think the best time would probably be around 2 PM GMT. That way, it'd be 6 AM PST, 10 PM in China and 11 PM in Japan. Granted, some people may not be awake yet (myself included) or may have fallen asleep already, but most of the major countries would fall in between both extremities of the usual waking hours.

[Richard Masters]

During the summer when it is day in China and India, and there is a solar eclipse through the eastern hemisphere, preferably Europe and the Mediterranean. And a major earthquake in the West Coast (US), a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, plus a large passing comet is expected to be highly visible because the moon is on the other side of the earth.

Terrorists have just attacked a major civilian target in Australia because Osama Bin Laden has been captured, and U.S., Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand airports have just been shut down due to reports of avian flu; heavy hail storm bashes Mexico City and reports of thunderstorms throughout the Mexican Pacific Coast.

The Pope has just been assassinated by a clergy member claiming to be a patsy for a covert atheist organization. Sightings of UFOs in South Africa and Russia uploaded to YouTube. Netherlands floods due to Global Warming.

[Richard Masters]

Sorry, forgot to specify: July 22, 2009

[El Greco]

On that note, I wonder how many were up to see Obama sworn in last week.

Not many I know watched this, and it was late evening here. I like Obama, I think his election was a milestone in world history but frankly, I can't think anything more boring than watching an inauguration. There's no surprise element, IYKWIM.