Doing the Math: How many kids are at Hogwarts?
by David Haber
On October 16, 2000, in an interview, J.K. Rowling was asked, "How many students attend Hogwarts, and how many students per year per house?" and she replied, simply, "There are about a thousand students at Hogwarts." And because she said it, this has persisted as the proper answer accepted by most fans. But I don't see how that could be correct.
> Read the full articlePages: << < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 > >> Reader Comments: (Page 19) im sorry but most of this doesnt make sense
first in the movie obviously they are not gonna have a 250 kids follow percy and 1000 kids seated in the great hall they would need alot more space and alot more kids for that
there are alot of things in the movie thats not in the book and vice versa
there is also something that bothers me in the movie
its about harry and his eyes he is suppose to have bright gree eyes right? but in the movie he for some reason has blueish eyes. its really annoys me because how hard is it to get some green contacts
and i know its not a very big point but it just annoys me all the same. Posted by luna from TORONTO on November 22, 2009 2:08 PM
I think your number makes sense, I've often thought about it myself and came to the same conclusion.
another thing I've noticed is that the only schools in the Triwizard Tournament are Hogwarts, in England, Beauxbatons, in France, and Durmstrang, somewhere in Europe. With 280 kids per school that means only 840 wizard students in most of Europe. This is a very small amount, isn't it? Posted by Anonymous on January 1, 2010 7:45 PM
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I think that Hogwarts was originally suited to welcome around 1000 students, but the first war made it that Harry's year has a very small number of student compared to previous and next generations.
Who would take the risk to have kids in wartimes? Plus, many families were wiped out,entirely with their newborns, some many were probably bitten by Fenrir Greyback. But after Voldemort's first fall people began having kids again, the war torn magical Britain was to rebuild and probably even attracted foreign magical couples. Some parents who kept their kids home or sent them in other school allowed them back at Hogwarts and so on.
Now some people say sorting about 250 new students each year would take several hours, I say not necessarily.
Perception of time is very subjective, what feel like a few minutes spent talking with the sorting hat might be a few seconds in reality, and vice versa.
Beside I think they may adapt the time of the sorting ceremony according to the number of student it may begin sooner. As far as we know nothing prevents the Hogwarts express to go faster! It 's a magical train for Merlin's sake!
As for the dormitories,common rooms, class rooms, the great hall, and the thestrals pulled carriages expansion charms just make it possible.
There is the matter of schedules and lessons, I think Hogwarts may hire more than one teacher for every subject Taught, an alternative is that teachers might use time turners.
Also joint lesson are here for a reason,so the schedules are manageable. moreover 1st, 2nd, and 7th years have a lighter schedule than 3rd,4th,5th and 6th years.
Not all students choose 4 electives like Hermione did. Some even drop, subjects after the OWLS if they don't have a passing grade.
Finally many class room are unused which suggest there used to be a lot more students and teachers.
My guess is there are from 400 to 600 students in the 1990s Posted by Geoffrey from Paris, France on January 10, 2010 11:10 AM
J.K.R did state that she believed that there were 1000 students attending Hogwarts in 2000 but that was when the other books hadn't been completed. She then lowered that figure to 600 after realising the previous amount was not possible if you referred solely to the books (as we are meant to).
I would say approxmiately 70 students per house would be appropriate, 40 students per year level and 240 students in total. But then that'll seem very lonesome in a castle as large as Hogwarts.
The only thing we are sure of is that the movies successfully misinterpreted the amount of students attending Hogwarts in every class and every meal. Posted by Danielle from Melbourne, Victoria on January 16, 2010 12:06 AM
"We can only guess. We may never know"
regardless of how many students there are at Hogwarts this rise another question: How many Wizard in GB? Worldwide? Posted by Geoffrey from Paris, France on January 18, 2010 1:14 PM
I think this calculation is pretty good, but I don't think there are exactly 70 students in each house. The Sorting Hat most likely doesn't make sure that every house has the same number of people. But still, it's a good estimate. There are only 5 Slytherin boys in the same year has Harry Potter who appear in the series (Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Blaise Zabini, and Theodore Nott) (I think). Posted by Neil from Portland, Oregon on January 19, 2010 7:02 PM
The thing is, your all taking your opinions from what you have seen in the movies. MOVIES ARE NOT true HARRY POTTER. If you want to true fact, go by what JK Rowling has said, and anyway, Hogwarts in Magical, I'm sure they could expand the Great Hall and/or tables if need be. Posted by Cal from Hogwarts, Ravenclaw Table, Great hall on March 31, 2010 6:58 PM
Of course, you're right, the movies are not the books. But, we have many sources of information about the stories, including interviews of J.K. and the movies, which were overseen by her. It's all interesting info that is open for us to discuss. Posted by Dave Haber from Hollywood, CA on April 1, 2010 08:46 AM
So 7(years)*40(students per year/or 10 per house) equals 280 students.I think that's a reasonable amount.but a few years back I use to think that there were about 1000 because of the movies. Posted by Jerusalen from Texas on April 6, 2010 7:31 PM
There are 800 pupils at hogwarts.
JKR mentions it in Prisoner of Azkaban.
In Gryffindor's quidditch match against Slytherin, it says
'there were about three quarters of people in red and gold (that'd include people from ravenclaw gryffindor and hufflepuff) and then it says the other 200 people were wearing emerald green' (sorry its not the actual quote)
so that would be one quater=200. so thats one house = 200 therefore 4 houses = 800 students.
200/ 7=28.5 =29 students in each year in each house.
this might not actully be true because you have to remember that its not always an equal amount in every house and it all depends on how many were born on a certain year.
I think JKRs later figure of 600 makes sense. that would mean there are about 20 students in each house in each year. Posted by April from London on May 15, 2010 08:00 AM
to Geoffrey from Paris, France
There are 3000 wizards in Britain. Posted by Harry Potter from Hogwarts on May 15, 2010 08:03 AM
in the 1st book during flying class it states there are 20 brooms for both houses so that would lead me to beieve 10 gryph and 10 slyth. Posted by pat from san fran ca on May 18, 2010 4:13 PM
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