Earth was 518.4 percent more abundant in 2024 than it was in 1980

See The Simon Abundance Index 2025 by Gale L. Pooley & Marian L. Tupy. Excerpts:

"The Simon Abundance Index (SAI) measures the relationship between resource abundance and population. It converts the per capita abundance of 50 basic commodities and the size of the global population into a single value. The index began in 1980 with a base value of 100. In 2024, the SAI stood at 618.4, indicating that resources have become 518.4 percent more abundant over the past 44 years. All 50 commodities in the dataset were more abundant in 2024 than they were in 1980. The global abundance of resources increased at a compound annual growth rate of 4.22 percent, thus doubling every 17 years."

"The SAI is based on the ideas of Julian Simon, a University of Maryland economist and Cato Institute senior fellow who pioneered research and analysis of the relationship between population growth and resource abundance. If resources were truly finite, as many people believe, an increase in population would be expected to lead to scarcity and higher prices. However, as Simon discovered through exhaustive research spanning decades, the opposite was true. As the global population increased, resources tended to become more abundant."

"How is that possible? Simon recognized that atoms, without knowledge, have no economic value. Knowledge transforms atoms into resources—and the supply of undiscovered knowledge is limitless. He also understood that only humans can discover and create new knowledge. Therefore, resources can be effectively infinite, and humans are the ultimate resource.

Consider this example. Before the 19th century, agriculture relied heavily on manure for fertilization, limiting crop yields due to its low nitrogen content. As populations grew, farmers sought more potent alternatives. In the early 1800s, guano—bird droppings rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium—was discovered on islands off the coast of Peru. Its extraordinary effectiveness led to a global guano trade boom, fueling industrial agriculture in Europe and America. By the late 19th century, however, supplies started to dwindle.

The breakthrough came in the early 20th century with the Haber–Bosch process, developed by the German chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch. This method allowed for the synthetic fixation of atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, producing fertilizer on an industrial scale. It decoupled food production from natural nitrogen sources, revolutionizing agriculture and enabling the rapid expansion of global populations. It is estimated that without synthetic fertilizer, the planet’s food production would be able to support only four billion rather than eight billion people.

Individual Commodity Changes Between 1980 and 2024

The SAI uses “time prices” to measure changes in relative abundance. Time prices tell you how long you must work to earn enough money to buy something. As long as you work less time this year than last year to afford something, your standard of living is rising. Time prices are a simple and intuitive way to compare the true cost of things.

Time prices for individual commodities decreased, on average, by 70.4 percent between 1980 and 2024, ranging from −2.9 percent for oranges to −85.2 percent for lamb. That means that the average inhabitant of the planet saw their personal resource abundance increase by 238.1 percent, ranging from 2.9 percent for oranges to 573.6 percent for lamb. Put differently, the same length of work that allowed the average inhabitant of the planet to purchase 1 unit in our basket of 50 commodities in 1980 allowed him or her to buy 3.381 units in 2024.

To continue with our fertilizer example: Since 1980, the time price of fertilizer has fallen by 56.4 percent. The same length of work that allowed the average inhabitant of the planet to purchase 1 unit of fertilizer in 1980 allowed him or her to buy 2.2 units in 2024, an increase of 120 percent.

Finally, the SAI is calculated by multiplying personal resource abundance by population size. As noted, between 1980 and 2024, personal resource abundance increased by 238.1 percent. Over this same period, the global population increased by 82.9 percent, rising from 4.444 billion to 8.126 billion. The relevant equation is:

SAI = (1 + percentage change in population) x (1 + percentage change in personal resource abundance) x 100
SAI = 1.829 x 3.381 x 100
SAI = 618.4"