What Is the Insect Population?

Many persons would be surprised to learn that scientists have practically no hope of ever being able to classify every single type of insect in existence. Why? Because it is estimated that there are from 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 different kinds of insects. And scientists have actually described in scientific terms only about 625,000.

If you were to try to calculate how many insects live in the world today, the number would be so great that the human mind could hardly imagine it. The only way scientists can even start calculating how many insects are in a given area is by counting all that are in a square yard of moist soil. The count may be anywhere from 500 to 2,000. Just imagine! That would make the insect population in one acre of good soil about 4,000,000!