B5 Universe Population Numbers

[Looney]

That is awesome. I have been doing something similar. I know you can look up most stuff that others have done on the internet, but I really enjoy watching and trying to take detailed notes. I have only done The Gathering, so I know it is going to be slow going. I wish you the best of luck on your quest.

[Space Empress Sirikon]

I will post it on fan-fic.com but it will take some months as I rewatch the show now first. I also started creating a map of the B5 universe for it (overview, fleet movements, war advances etc.) and then this questions just came to me.

[Looney]

Where will you be posting this fan-fic? And are those numbers only important to you because you will be eliminating some of those populations?

[Space Empress Sirikon]

It just came to me how high the several species' populaces are. There are many confusing and illogical things but also clear numbers.

Most races in B5 have a few to many colonies, I think some dozen are common for members of the League and others, major governments like Minbari, Earth and Centauri likely have more than a hundred. Nevertheless it looks like in almost all cases the majority of a people still lives on the homeworld.

Here on Earth we have 7 billion people currently and it is expected to peak at 9-15 billion during this and/or next century. Concerning B5, I read somewhere JMS mentioned that most advanded races have population control on their homeplanets.

An ISN moderator mentions Earth has "over two dozen colonies", this seems kinda low to me and according to a list on chronology.com over 60 EA planets are known by name, though not all planets may count as full "colonies", like outposts, bases etc. In the pilot Londo talks about 12 worlds in the Centauri Republic, but this are only it's coreworlds like C Prime and C Beta I + II or Jux Prime. The entire Republic contains hundreds of worlds. The Minbari may have many and large colonies too. Vorlon space is described as large but we dont know what is there, so no guess. A non-canon map from the miniatures game shows all major system, only a few for each faction. Vorlons have only 2 colonies here, the ones mentioned in the series (no one knows what is there beside).

Centauri Prime's populace is 3 billion, that has been said several times, but the entire Republic is made of by 40 or 48 billion Centauri (from some episodes). That implies most of them lives on many and large colony worlds. Minbar counts 4 billion inhabitants, no guess who lives on the colonies, likely more than on the homeworld because they are in space since so long. Maybe 10 or 20 billion or so. Earth may have over 12-20 billion in 250 years. EA has many colonies but the majority of humanity resides on Earth.

Mars, the most imporant colony has a meager 2 million inhabitants according to some sources (forgot from which episode), that is kind of low, is that entire Mars or could it be just one city/region?

Due to the destroyed environment the Narn Homeworld can sustain only a limited amount of people but they can use greenhouses and arcologies. Maybe 3-5 billion. Narn have colonies, too, but I doubt that ther are soooo many, they have other things to do like restoring their homeplanet also may like capicity to build many colonies.

In the LoNAW all species seem to have no more people on their colonies than on the homeworld. I think Drazi are the most powerful and numerous one, followed by Brakiri which are able to beat Earth Alliance and nuke Earth in the fan-game "The Babylon Project: Earth-Brakiri War". I read that Zha'Bar has 5 billion inhabitants and Drazi established many colonies (they archieved interstellar travel 800 years before the show starts). Gaim can live only on their homeworld because the atmosphere they require.

Concerning the Markab, it was explicitly mentioned that there are 2 billion of them and their homeworld (only few colonists and those on B5), but all of them died from that plague, well that went bad.^^

Really no guess about Vorlons. If they are energy beings and require no food their can be dozen billions on their homeworld, on the internet I read stuff about the B5 comics (btw where can I get them? I didnt find anything on Amazon) where Vorlon Prime is shown, with large megatropolises and "yellow canals/tubes" that produce food?

I maybe estimate:

Vorlons = 10-30 billion
Shadows = some billion
Centauri = 40 billion
Minbari = 20 billion
Human = 11-15 billion
Narn = 6-8 billion
Drazi = 10 billion
Brakiri = 6 billion
Gaim = few billion, but can have more since they're insects
Vree = 2 billion
Markab = 2 billion before the plague, 0 ones after
other minor developed spacefaring races = few billion

Well, I'll use that numbers for a fan-fiction I have began.