Percentage

[OliveOil_Med]

I have a numbers question (which I hate). Does anyone have a good idea of what percentage of the world's population would be members of the wizarding world?

[majestic_ginny]

First to reply! YAY!

Well, considering the Wizarding gene is recessive (yes, I know I should get over that now, and you'd agree with me, OliveOil_Med, as you saw my HUGE post in the Wizarding gene thingy thread ), I'd say that... roughly around 20-35% of the population. That's just my estimate though. But I'm sure it won't go over 50%, and its considerably a small proportion of the population, because why would they be hiding if they're larger in number?

So yeah...around 20-30% is my guess.

--Nadia

[OliveOil_Med]

Maybe I misworded myself. What I mean is what percentage of the world's population are wizards?

[Equinox Chick]

I have no figures to back this up, but I think it's a minute percentage of the general population. If it were as much as 10% they'd be pretty much all powerful. There aren't many all-magic villages, not too many schools, and Hogwarts intake isn't large either. I know we're supposed to believe that they do take a lot more that 40 children a year, but in that first Flying lesson, Rolanda Hooch olnly lays out 20 brooms for the Gryffs and Slyths. (I know it won't be exactly 40 a year, but I imagine it's not much more or less)

Anyway ... that waffling aside ... I reckon about 1 %. I was looking at the UK population of around 60,000,000 and that gives you 600, 000 witches/wizards. (Although maths, even with a calculator, is NOT my strong point).

~Carole~

[Amortentia x]

Molly,

I tried to work out something like this before - I tried to calculate the population of Irish wizards. I know you're trying to work out the whole population of wizards, rather than in just one country, but I'll link you to the thread anyway, just in case the calculations might be of some general use to you

Oh, and in that thread, Tim links to two other threads that might be helpful

~Emma~

[Tim the Enchanter]

Bleargh. This question again.

I recall Rowling stating that the wizarding population of Britain was around 10,000 or less. So if you divide 10K by the UK's population of 61 million, you get a ratio of roughly 1 wizard to every 6100 Muggles, or .016%.

Of course, every country would probably have a different wizard-Muggle ratio, but lets just use this 1-6100 ratio as a world average. With a total estimated world population of 6.8 billion, the .016 percentage gives us roughly 1,088,000 wizards on Earth.

So yeah, just over a million, I guess.

For a thread with much, much more thorough calculations, here's a link to Inverarity's estimates: http://fanfiction.mugglenet.com/foru...ad.php?t=30941

Tim the Enchanter

[OliveOil_Med]

A new topic for discussion! Do you think depending on any society's attitude towards interaction with Muggles would effect the ratio of wizarding citizens in that society? For example, say tribe A in the Americas saw nothing wrong with Muggles knowing about magic, and therefore, intermarriages between wizards and Muggles weren't that uncommon. Do you think this would lead to a high ratio of magical births within that society?

Likewise, let's look at society B in Asia which is about a pureblood fanatical as they come. With less potential partners, would they have a lower ratio of magical births?

[Maple_and_PheonixFeather]

That does make a lot of sense. I'm thinking A would have a higher population than B for sure.

[Evora]

If tribe A were used to the concept of wizard-muggle intermarriages, then rightly so, whatever area tribe A covers would have a higher ratio of children with magical capabilites.

As for society B, I do agree that most of Asia do tend to stick to their traditions, but that would depend on what their traditions were. For example, it might be a long lived tradition that people in Indonesia - wizards and muggles - is also used to the concept of intermarriages between magical and non-magical folk.

Do you think depending on any society's attitude towards interaction with Muggles would effect the ratio of wizarding citizens in that society?
Yes, I do, but it wouldn't have a big effect since the Magical gene is recessive.

[OliveOil_Med]

Yes, I do, but it wouldn't have a big effect since the Magical gene is recessive.

Oh, back to this classic debate again. Believe it or not, there have been several very long threads devoted to discussing whether or not the gene for magic is dominant or recessive. We really don't see enough large families created from mixed couples to know for sure.

So until J.K. writes a story to prove otherwise, people mostly stick to their own opinions.