Newbie and Hogwart's Population

[Amy Johnston]

No: HPFGUIDX 9707

Hello all -

I'm a Newbie, 30 years old, live in Indiana but born and raised in Georgia.

Meg wrote:
I just wanted to put in my 2 cents with this student population
issue.  There are 5 girls and 3 boys that we know of in Harry's year
in Gryffindor, but how can we assume that the class sizes are
uniform?  That would mean that every year, the British wizarding
population has an absolutely static birthrate, with no more than X
number of kids being born so that there are the same number of eleven
year olds at Hogwarts as twelve year olds as thirteen year olds etc.
Plus, if you take into account muggle wizarding births (like
Hermione) the wizarding population birth rate gets even smaller.
This definately doesn't make any sense, what with all we know about
the many wizarding families and there being enough of them so that
there are lots of completely pureblood kids running around.  Plus, if
we assume that every class in Hogwarts is the same size, we'd also be
saying that every year there are 10 wizarding kids born who have
brave personalities, 10 who are studious, 10 who are devious, and 10
who are loyal.  What are the odds of that actually happening?  What
happens if there are 11 loyal kids born in a particular year?  Or 27
studious ones?  Are 10 allowed to come to Hogwarts and the left-overs
have to be home-schooled?  Class sizes at muggle schools aren't
uniform, and personality traits definately aren't either, so I don't
know why we should assume that the opposite is true in the wizarding
world.  Maybe Harry's year is so small because in 1980 only 8
wizarding kids were born with Gryffindor personalities, but there
could be any number in the other houses.

-----
I agree with Meg.  In one of the online chats with JKR on Scholastic.com 
(the transcripts are printed there), JKR says,"In Hogwarts there's a magical 
quill which detects the birth of a magical child, and writes his or her name 
down in a large parchment book.  Every year Professor MacGonagall checks the 
book, and sends owls to the people who are turning 11."  This would seem to 
indicate that there is not a set number of students for each class or each 
house.  It just depends how many magical kids are born each year and then 
turn 11 and get their owl.  Also, if there are close to 1,000 students 
(which JKR said in the same chat) it is quite possible Harry only mentions 
the kids he knows by name -- I doubt he would know all 1,000 by name, eh?

This is my theory. Rip it to shreds as you will:)
Amy Johnston
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