[HPforGrownups] Wizarding numbers

[manawydan]

No: HPFGUIDX 81965

tobyreiner asked:
> How many wizards are there in Harry Potter's Britain?

A lot more than that, but possibly not quite as many as that...

> I ask, because it seems to me that the population is barely adequate
> to cover the infrastructure detailed in the books. (Especially a
> Quidditch league)

Not to mention the scope and coverage of the media (a daily paper with an
evening edition, a radio station, plus various magazines and periodicals of
verying frequencies).

Also not to mention the relatively huge size of the Ministry, with its
hundreds of employees arriving for work each day.

> According to an interview with Rowling, Hogwarts has 1,000 students;
> bearing in mind that there are only five boys in Gryffindor in
> Harry's year, this is about about three times more than I expected.
> If there were 10 per house per year, there would be 280 in the whole
> school. The discrepancy could be because Hufflepuff, as the only non-
> selective house, is far bigger than the remaining three.

Remember that Hogwarts is a school of wizardry and witchcraft.

It's often surmised on this list that those young people who wouldn't _need_
to qualify as wizards or witches likewise wouldn't _need_ to have a Hogwarts
education.

> Does anyone know?

Only JKR, and she's not telling!

Fun to speculate though. My own theory (not supported by canon, and far from
consensus on this list) is that the ratio of muggles to wizards is about
100:1, which would give a WW large enough to support the infrastructure you
highlighted

Cheers

Ffred

O Benryn wleth hyd Luch Reon
Cymru yn unfryd gerhyd Wrion
Gwret dy Cymry yghymeiri