How Much Does Earth Cost? (2024)

Our home planet may be the most precious place we know, but it isn’t priceless. Earth’s resources and the value they offer to humans add up to some colossal, tangible cost. Our species may never have to worry about buying or selling the world, but thinking of it in terms of concrete numbers can help us better understand its value. Now, as Treehugger reports, one scientist has developed a special formula that allows us to do just that.

According to calculations made in 2020 by Dr. Greg Laughlin, now a professor of astronomy at Yale University, Earth is worth roughly $5 quadrillion (or $5,000,000,000,000,000). He came up with that price after gauging the planet’s mass, temperature, age, and other factors that directly correlate to its ability to sustain life.

To emphasize just how valuable Earth is, Laughlin also estimated the worth of other planets in our solar system according to their ability to provide resources for living things. Our nearest neighbor, Mars, costs $16,000, which is a lot less than the current average price for a used car. But that’s a fortune compared to Venus, which he appraised at the meager value of one cent. Maybe Venus’s atmosphere, which is 96 percent carbon dioxide, and its 224 mph winds have something to do with it.

Laughlin doesn't expect these numbers to have applications in the real world. Rather, he hopes they will inspire people to better appreciate the only home they know. He’s not the first person to put a massive, hypothetical price tag on something just for fun. The cost of the Death Star from Star Wars has been calculated at $852 quadrillion—many times Laughlin’s estimate for Earth.

Have you got a Big Question you'd like us to answer? If so, let us know by emailing us at bigquestions@mentalfloss.com.

A version of this story was published in 2020; it has been updated for 2023.

How Much Does Earth Cost? (2024)

FAQs

How Much Does Earth Cost? ›

Answer: The earth does cost around $5 Quadrillion. In 2020, astrophysicist Dr. Greg Laughlin calculated Earth's value at $5 quadrillion, considering factors like its mass, temperature, age, and potential for life.

How much money does the Earth have in total? ›

The total amount of money in the world, including cash and bank deposits, is approximately $95 trillion USD. When broader measures like savings and money market funds are included, it's around $125 trillion USD. The total global wealth, including all assets, exceeds $400 trillion USD, but these estimates can fluctuate.

How much is the world worth in dollars? ›

What is the world's total wealth? According to the UBS "Global Wealth Report 2023," total net private wealth stood at $454.4 trillion at the end of 2022.

What is cost earth? ›

phrase. If you say that something cost the earth or that you paid the earth for it, you are emphasizing that it cost a very large amount of money.

What is Earth's price? ›

In 2020, astrophysicist Dr. Greg Laughlin calculated Earth's value at $5 quadrillion, considering factors like its mass, temperature, age, and potential for life.

How much did planet Earth cost? ›

Alongside the commissioning of the television series, BBC Worldwide and Greenlight Media secured financing for a US$15 million film version of Planet Earth.

How much is the moon worth? ›

"The mare constitutes around 15% of the lunar surface, making the total value of the moon... $4 quadrillion." Thinking about it another way, that much He-3 could theoretically supply U.S. electricity demand for 80,000 years.

What is the world's value? ›

Let's see the layman's version of the whole world's worth. One astrophysicist estimates that the earth is worth $5 quadrillion ($5000 trillion).

How many dollars exist? ›

How much money is in the United States? According to estimates from Dec. 2022, the total amount of physical currency in the U.S. is $2.3 trillion.

Are there any trillionaires? ›

Not Yet, But We'll See One Soon. A trillion dollars is a phenomenal sum of money, equivalent to 1,000 billion dollars.

What country is the $1 worth more? ›

What country is a dollar worth most? Some of the countries where a dollar is worth the most money include Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Colombia. It's possible to exchange dollars for local currency in these countries at favorable exchange rates.

How rich is the world? ›

Total household wealth by country
Country (or area)SubregionTotal wealth (USD bn)
World454,385
Asia and Oceania177,824
Northern America151,170
United States *Northern America139,866
74 more rows

How much is Planet earth worth? ›

In fact, according to one astrophysicist who came up with a calculation for valuing planets, Earth is worth a bank-breaking $5 quadrillion dollars, unsurprisingly the priciest in the solar-system.

Why is the earth valuable? ›

Our forests, rivers, oceans and soils provide us with the food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we irrigate our crops with. We also rely on them for numerous other goods and services we depend on for our health, happiness and prosperity. These natural assets are often called the world's 'natural capital'.

What is the charge value of earth? ›

The Earth, as in the surface and below, has a negative charge of around 500,000 Coulombs with the upper atmosphere having a fairly equal positive charge. The Earth has a constant electric field which at the surface is around 100V/m downwards so it is constantly creating an imbalance.

What is the value of the entire Earth? ›

Well, Greg Laughlin, an astrophysicist at the University of Southern California, Santa Cruz, has come up with a complex algorithm based on the Earth's size, mass, temperature, and age, which puts its value as five QUADRILLION dollars. That's a five followed by FIFTEEN zeroes.

What planet is worth nonillion dollars? ›

The Diamond Planet is roughly worth 26.9 nonillion dollars which is $26,900,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 dollars!

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