Revised Estimates for the Number of Human and Bacteria Cells in the Body

Summary

Reported values in the literature on the number of cells in the body differ by orders of magnitude and are very seldom supported by any measurements or calculations. Here, we integrate the most up-to-date information on the number of human and bacterial cells in the body. We estimate the total number of bacteria in the 70 kg "reference man" to be 3.8·1013. For human cells, we identify the dominant role of the hematopoietic lineage to the total count (≈90%) and revise past estimates to 3.0·1013 human cells. Our analysis also updates the widely-cited 10:1 ratio, showing that the number of bacteria in the body is actually of the same order as the number of human cells, and their total mass is about 0.2 kg.

Key Points

• 1The estimated total number of bacterial cells in a reference man is approximately 3.8 x 10^13
• 2The revised estimate for human cells is approximately 3 x 10^13
• 3The traditional ten-to-one ratio of bacteria to human cells is challenged by recent findings
• 4A significant portion of the human cell count derives from the hematopoietic lineage
• 5The analysis incorporates methodological scrutiny of previous estimates and their assumptions.

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