Ep.34 How many rats per capita?

Surely you’re curious or at least amused by the question we’re answering today in the series “Myth or Fact”: How many rats do we have per capita? It’s an interesting piece of information that we found on the internet, and if you want to know the answer, we invite you to follow Mr. Alexandru Vladimirescu, PhD in biology and head of the medical entomology laboratory at the Cantacuzino Institute.

What are you curious about? Write us in the comments and we’ll ask the specialist for you!

Interview transcript

We debate, with our specialist, the myths that you have submitted on our Facebook page INFODD. One of them goes like this: The world’s rat population is estimated at 12 billion rats, twice as many as humans. Each inhabitant of the planet has 2 rats. Mr. Vladimirescu, is it myth or reality? We have 2 rats per man?

From what I’ve researched in the literature, I repeat, you can’t do this kind of study at home alone, yes, it’s somewhat true. I mean, not two rats, just one per capita.

Quite a lot, though.

Of course, quite a lot, and this is a warning signal that if we have fleas, if we have yersinia pestis, it means that we will have bubonic plague or another form of plague again.

Is this increased rat population due to the way they mate?

Yes, of course, and the enabling conditions, i.e. food waste, household hygiene which sometimes leaves a lot to be desired in some countries, garbage management and so on.