Number of teachers

[Jim Ferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 12975

rhodhry:"Great Britain and Ireland together have 60 million 
inhabitants, constituting 1/100 of the world population.  With 300 
students at Hogwarts, 6000 witches and wizards total (all ages) in 
Great Britain and Ireland, you will have (assuming identical 
distribution) a world population of 600 000 witches and wizards."

It's worse even than that.  My daughters live in a town with 55,000 
inhabitants.  There are 366 students in six years [not seven] in 
there school. I found out there are eleven schools in their town [not 
eight or nine like I said in other posts]. IF the number of students 
in each school is about equal, then the wizard population of the UK 
is closer to 4000 than 6000. Neither way do you have a viable society.

Steve and others have suggested there are alternatives to a Hogwarts 
education, and it seems intuitive that would be so, but JKR said once 
that a magical quill rights down the name of each magical child born, 
that Professor McGonagall checks the book every year, and that she 
sends out 'the letter' to those turning eleven.

I believe, like you, that the wizarding population has to be higher 
for there to be a viable society.  There's no reason to believe that 
the wizard birthrate is way different from the muggle population.

I think the real answer is JKR didn't work it all out.  It's not as 
important as the great stories and characters she's given us, but 
there's no 100% way to work out wizard society based on canon and 
JKR's statements (excuse me, "revelations."