D&D General Humanoids...and world demographics

[Mercurius]

Been thinking about humanoids lately for some reason (how could that be?!) and was wondering: What are the general demographics of humanoid species in your campaign world? If you don't have a homebrew, feel free to speculate on a published setting or the hypothetical "archetypal D&D world" as it is implied in the core rules.

Meaning, what is your world's total humanoid population and what percentage of that are each humanoid species, or at least he major ones?

I know, this is a big ask - and assumes that either you have the data or could even speculate. But... while I know most don't get this granular in their world building - at least not for a whole world/planet, but also knowing the joys of world-building, I wouldn't be surprised if some have (for the world of my fiction stories, I do actually have population charts of every region and major city, but there are only a handful of races, so it is easier to do the demographics than D&D). And yes, I realize that there are something like a hundred humanoid species...but probably only about a third of those are regularly used in D&D campaigns.

At the least, you could use this thread to speculate a bit!

For the sake of context, here is our world's population at different historical peroids (according to Qwen):

10,000 BC (pre/early Agricultural Revolution): 1-10 million
3,000 BC (beginnings of history/Bronze Age): 14-40 million
1 AD (Roman Empire): 150-300 million
1000 AD (Early Medieval): 250-350 million
1500 AD (Renaissance): 450-500 million
1800 AD (Industrial Revolution): 900m - 1 billion
2025 AD (now): 8+ billion

Presumably most D&D worlds would be closest to 1000 AD or 1500 AD, so in the 250-500 million range. But some could be closer to other periods of time. For instance, a "points of light" style world (or apocalyptic) might be closer to 3000 BC or even 10,000 BC, so tens of millions. Or a more developed, "early Modern" style world could be a billion or so.

I would imagine the Forgotten Realms being somewhere in the half a billion range, maybe more. Greyhawk probably closer to half that. Eberron is more industrial, but is smaller I believe, so would be less.

But then the harder question...whatever your number is, what percentage are human, elf, dwarf, orc, halfling, etc? Are there "greater" and "lesser" species, in terms of relative portion of the population?

If the whole world is too daunting or unknown, what about regional? For context, here's Europe at the same dates, also thanks to Qwen:

10,000 BC: 100-500,000
3,000 BC: 1-3 million
1 AD: 30-40 million
1000 AD: 30-40 million
1500 AD: 60-80 million
1800 AD: 180-200 million
2025 AD: 750 million

 

[GreatestHonor]

Or my own setting, the main material planet has a population of just above 1 billion, but the current focus of the planet is a region of around 150+ million.

Haven’t gone super in depth with demographics, but the current region is generally like this:

Dwarves, Elves, Humans, and Orcs collectively are 60%
Gnomes and Halflings are another 15%
The other 25% is various, multiple trade hubs in the region result in a wide variety of peoples in the ocean-side countries

 

[Mercurius]

Or my own setting, the main material planet has a population of just above 1 billion, but the current focus of the planet is a region of around 150+ million.

Haven’t gone super in depth with demographics, but the current region is generally like this:

Dwarves, Elves, Humans, and Orcs collectively are 60%
Gnomes and Halflings are another 15%
The other 25% is various, multiple trade hubs in the region result in a wide variety of peoples in the ocean-side countries

Thanks! Out of curiosity, are dwarves, elves, humans and orcs roughly similar in total population? And how big is this region?

 

[GreatestHonor]

Thanks! Out of curiosity, are dwarves, elves, humans and orcs roughly similar in total population? And how big is this region?

Approximately, it varies a bit from country to country, but not enough to be notable. The planet is bigger than earth (gotta love fantasy “science”) but its probably around the size of Russia or so

 

[GreatestHonor]

One country does have a notable increase of Elven population though, due to the royal family being it themselves

 

[Umbran]

Been thinking about humanoids lately for some reason (how could that be?!) and was wondering: What are the general demographics of humanoid species in your campaign world? If you don't have a homebrew, feel free to speculate on a published setting or the hypothetical "archetypal D&D world" as it is implied in the core rules.

Meaning, what is your world's total humanoid population and what percentage of that are each humanoid species, or at least he major ones?

I think demographics are like economy - if you specify much, you are very apt to create logical inconsistencies, because, to be blunt, the overwhelming majority of us are not well-versed in the dynamics of the systems involved.

 

[GreatestHonor]

I think demographics are like economy - if you specify much, you are very apt to create logical inconsistencies, because, to be blunt, the overwhelming majority of us are not well-versed in the dynamics of the systems involved.

Fair point, knowing that is why i tend to use approximations and handwaves for demographics, the economy, and similar bits. I need it to be just believable enough for my players, and solid enough for me to not nitpick it

 

[Shiroiken]

While I don't really focus on the world demographics in my Greyhawk campaign, I do generally break things down for the Flanaess where the action takes place.

Humans make up 40%
Orcs, Goblinoids, and Kobolds make up 40%
Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, and Gnomes make up 15%
The remaining 5% is everything else

Humans are dominant, controlling almost all of civilization. Orcs, goblins, and kobolds actually breed faster than humans do, but their culture is brutal, making life short for most. Dwarves and Elves have territory they control, while Halflings and Gnomes live in communities under the rule of the big folk.

 

[MGibster]

I've never really done a demographic breakdown of an entire setting because I feel that way lies madness. I'm currently running a Greyhawk campaign, and the Free City has a population that's primarily human, about 95%, with orcs coming in 2nd at 2.5% followed by halflings, dwarves, and others.

 

[Chaltab]

Been thinking about humanoids lately for some reason (how could that be?!) and was wondering: What are the general demographics of humanoid species in your campaign world? If you don't have a homebrew, feel free to speculate on a published setting or the hypothetical "archetypal D&D world" as it is implied in the core rules.

My homebrew setting was at an early 20th century era of advancement 80 years ago and had a gobal population of roughly 2 Billion.

Then the world exploded. Well, not quite exploded, but broke apart. The gods preserved fragments of it and the surviving population was shoved together into these fragments. Current population demographics are unknown though the Ten Nations (basically an alliance of... well ten nations) has a known demographic spread of roughly 35% human, 5% Orcs including half orcs, 11% Elves including half elves, 12% Dwarves, 11% Halflings, 8% Gnomes, 4% Tieflings, 4% Giants including Goliaths and 10% all other.