There were approximately 43,800,000 induced abortions worldwide in 2008, according to an estimate that was published by The Lancet in January 2012, and that was cited as the source for global abortion numbers in a Guttmacher Institute briefing paper—entitled “Facts on Abortion Worldwide”—that was published in November. The Lancet article—"Induced abortion incidence and trends worldwide from 1995 to 2008"--was produced by a group of researchers for the Guttmacher Institute, who were joined by a researcher from the World Health Organization.
 
43,800,000 abortion in one year equals approximately 120,000 per day—or 5,000 per hour.
The 43,800,000 babies aborted in 2008 outnumber the 43,431,886 born people the CIA estimates lived in Argentina in 2015.
The 43,800,000 aborted babies numbered more than two and a half times the 17,064,854 tthe CIA estimates lived in Syria in 2015.
The 43,800,000 aborted babies were almost nine times the 4,892,305 who lived in Ireland in 2015.
The 43,800,000 aborted babies outnumbered by almost 5 million the 38,802,500 who in 2014 lived in California, the most populous state in the United States, according to the Census Bureau.
If the 43,800,000 babies aborted worldwide in 2008 were a country, they would rank 33^rd out of the 238 countries whose populations are ranked by the CIA’s World Factbook.
 
According to the study published in The Lancet, there were approximately 45,600,000 induced abortions worldwide in 1995; 41,600,000 worldwide in 2003 and 43,800,000 worldwide in 2008. There were approximately 27,300,000 abortions in Asia in 2008, according to the study; 6,400,000 in Africa; 4,400,000 in Latin America; 4,200,000 million in Europe; and 1,400,000 in Northern America.