Wizarding numbers: 24 000

[o_caipora]

No: HPFGUIDX 83223

Another way of looking at it is "How many do you need?"

How many people does it take to form a stable, distinct ethnic group 
in a larger society?

Here's some numbers:
Population of Great Britain: 60,000,000
Population of Scotland:       5,000,000
Jews in Great Britain:          285,000
Romany (Gypsies) in G.B.:       120,000

Both Jews and Rom have managed to persist as distinct groups over 
hundreds of years in Britian, despite discrimination. That's real 
world evidence that 120,000 is "enough". 

Since wizards have longer adult lives, as well as other advantages, 
certainly a smaller number would suffice. 

Another example is Athens, which in its Golden Age had a population 
of about 450,000. Half were slaves, and we can assume whatever they 
did is performed by magic or Muggles. Women weren't educated or allow 
to participate in public life; since wizards don't waste half their 
population, we can assume they'd need half the free adult population 
of Athens. That gets us, again, to a bit under 120,000. 

So I'll take it as certain that 100,000 is enough. But that's more 
than four times 24,000. 

Your numbers are well based on the internal evidence, but you may 
have spent more time calculating than Rowling ever did. She writes 
fantasy, not science fiction, and isn't expected to have an entirely 
plausible and consistent world view.

- Caipora

Mikael Raaterova wrote:
> To summarize my findings below:
> 
> - About 30 percent of Hogwarts students are muggle-borns
> - No more than half of the 11-17 years old wizard-borns in the 
British 
> isles attend Hogwarts
> - The wizarding population is about 24 000 (bounded at 20-30 000)