How Many Wizards and Witches are There?

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

I've been playing around some more with numbers to try to estimate the percentage of muggle-borns in the wizarding world, and one of the problems I've run into is that I can't decide how many wizards and witches there are overall. I've read two excellent essays on the matter by Jodel and Whitehound. Jodel estimates that there are between 3600 and 4800 wizards and witches, depending on the average lifespan, which she guesses is between 90 and 120. Whitehound argues that there are closer 10,000 wizards and witches altogether in the British Isles. ( Read more... )