← on nowLGR-023 · v0.1.0 · model · model How many silkworms are killed every second, every day, every year?
silkworms · Bombyx mori · estimated
boiled alive in their cocoons
1 trillion
a year
31,688
a second
2.7 billion
a day
hatched for it
1 trillion
a year
31,688
a second
2.7 billion
a day
alive right now, in the queue: about 110 billion (rate × 40 days). average time left: 20 days.
method Rethink Priorities 2023: silk tonnage × cocoons per kg. births ≈ deaths (nearly all reared are killed).
- about 6,600 cocoons for a kilogram of silk. the moth was domesticated five thousand years ago and can no longer fly.source: Rethink Priorities 2023; FAO / ISC silk statistics
- if the ledger counts insects, and it does, this is among the largest channels on it.source: methodology note
live. this is the channel itself. embed it anywhere:
<iframe src="https://thetoll.earth/?channel=silkworms" width="100%" height="520" style="border:1px solid #D9DDDB" title="the toll · silkworms"></iframe>
or the whole broadcast, every channel, the same for everyone:
<iframe src="https://thetoll.earth/?embed=1" width="100%" height="520" style="border:1px solid #D9DDDB" title="the toll · on now, everywhere"></iframe>
how this number is built
- method
- Rethink Priorities 2023: silk tonnage × cocoons per kg. births ≈ deaths (nearly all reared are killed).
- range
- 420 billion–1 trillion/yr
- confidence
- model
- weakness
- cocoons-per-kg varies by strain; the site uses the top of the range. insects are counted on this ledger; some will object.
- dispute
- dispute LGR-023 · corrections are credited
- data
- channels.json (sign-in) · full entry · CC BY 4.0