What If 200 Million People Go Missing on Saturday?

According Christian tradition, the rapture is the day when believers will ascend to heaven and be rewarded with everlasting life. CREDIT: Dreamstime View full size image

According to the predictions of Christian radio broadcaster Harold Camping, May 21 will be the day of the rapture, when God calls believers to heaven to live in everlasting paradise.

By Camping’s estimation, that means the Earth will be 200 million souls lighter by Sunday morning. [Infographic: A Brief History of Doomsday]

While there’s no reason to believe that Camping’s doomsday predictions are more reliable than the hundreds of failed end-of-the-world predictions throughout history, the loss of 200 million people all at once would be the largest single population decrease in human history. It’s safe to say the world would take notice — but the effects of such a mass disappearance would depend on where believers were concentrated.