The percentage of white people in the world is generally estimated at about 8–9% , though exact numbers vary because “white” is defined differently across countries and datasets.

Why it’s hard to pin down

  • Race and ethnicity are not measured the same way everywhere.
  • Some countries do not collect racial data at all.
  • Definitions can include different ancestral, regional, or self-identification standards.

Rough global scale

Using the 8–9% estimate, that works out to roughly 600 million to 700 million people worldwide.

Important note

A much higher figure is sometimes claimed online, but that is not consistent with the demographic estimates I found.

TL;DR: The best rough estimate is around 8–9% of the world’s population.