The removal of molecular hydrogen (H₂) from the atmosphere is dominated by the uptake in soils. Notwithstanding, estimates of the magnitude of this important process on a global scale are highly uncertain. The CARIBIC aircraft observations of the seasonal variations of H₂ and its D/H isotopic ratio in the northern hemisphere allow an independent, better constrained estimate. We derive that 82% of the annual turnover of tropospheric H₂ is due to soil uptake, equaling 88 (±11) Tg a^−1, of which the northern hemisphere alone accounts for 62 (±10) Tg a^−1. Our calculations further show that tropospheric H₂ has a lifetime of only 1.4 (±0.2) years – significantly shorter than the recent estimate of ~2 years – which is expected to decrease in the future. In addition, our independent top-down approach, confined by the global and hemispheric sinks of H₂, indicates 64 (±12) Tg a^−1 emissions from various sources of volatile organic compounds by photochemical oxidation in the atmosphere. This estimate is as much as up to 60% larger than the previous estimates. This large airborne production of H₂ helps to explain the fairly homogeneous distribution of H₂ in the troposphere.