How should I intepret より in this sentence

Question

きのうは　きょうより　ひとが　すくないです。

Is it saying:

X number of people yesterday < Y number of people today?

or

X number of people yesterday > Y number of people today?

I'm getting the translation of より confused and can't make heads or tails of it.

As for yesterday, compared with today, the people are few. (There were fewer people yesterday than there are today.) — Billy, Sep 14 '12 at 1:09
I was going to put almost the exact same thing as my answer, but I didn't want to have a duplicate answer/comment. — rurouniwallace, Sep 14 '12 at 1:16
Where does this sentence come from? The sentence sounds unnatural to me because of the lack of past form. — Tsuyoshi Ito, Sep 14 '12 at 2:22

Billy · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-14 01:11:19Z

5

As for yesterday, compared with today, the people are few. (There were fewer people yesterday than there are today.)

answered Sep 14 '12 at 1:11

Billy

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Ah. So it's X number of people yesterday < Y number of people today
– dotnetN00b
Sep 14 '12 at 1:23
2

Yes. The point is that the noun suffixed by より is a point of reference to measure the rest of the sentence against.
– Billy
Sep 14 '12 at 1:25

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