Answer
There were a total of eight people on the ark. The account in Genesis does not state the number explicitly, but it provides enough information to confirm that eight is indeed the correct number. In the New Testament, we have an explicit count of the people on board and saved from the flood.
When God instructed Noah to build the ark and gave him the dimensions, God promised to establish a covenant with him. That covenant would include salvation for Noah and his family: “And you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you” (Genesis 6:18). The ark would preserve them from God’s judgment via a global flood on a wicked world.
After Noah finished constructing the ark and the animals were brought aboard, it was time for the flood. God moved to save Noah and his family, issuing the command to load up: “The Lord then said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation’” (Genesis 7:1). After Noah’s family were safe on the ark, God shut the door (verse 16).
Genesis 7:13 says that “on that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark.” So, here is the head count:
Noah and his wife = two persons
Shem and his wife = two persons
Ham and his wife = two persons
Japheth and his wife = two persons
That is, four couples—a total of eight persons—were aboard the ark and saved from the floodwaters that engulfed the whole world.Shem and his wife = two persons
Ham and his wife = two persons
Japheth and his wife = two persons
In the New Testament, 1 Peter 3:20 also gives eight as the number of passengers on board Noah’s ark: “God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water.”
