View source for Population of the Byzantine Empire

{{Short description|none}}
{{Byzantine culture}}
The '''population of the Byzantine Empire''' encompassed all ethnic and tribal groups living there, mainly [[Byzantine Greeks]], but also [[Albanians]], [[Armenians]], [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]], [[Bulgarians]], [[Goths]], [[Kartvelians]], [[Latini]], Levantine [[Arabs]], [[Serbs]] and [[Croats]], [[Thracians]], [[Tzans]], [[Vlachs]] and other groups. It fluctuated throughout the state's millennial history. The reign of the Emperor [[Justinian I]] in the mid-sixth century was the high point of the empire's expansion;<ref>{{harvnb|James|2010|p=3}}</ref> however, the arrival of [[Plague of Justinian|plague in 541 AD]] and its subsequent recurrences caused a severe depletion of the population.<ref>{{harvnb|Treadgold|1997|p=196}}</ref> After the reign of [[Emperor Heraclius]] ({{reign|610|641|era=AD}}) and the loss of the empire's overseas territories, [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantium]] was limited to the [[Balkans]] and [[Anatolia]]. When the empire began to recover after a series of conflicts in the 8th century and its territories stabilized, its population began to recover. By the end of the 8th century the population of the empire was around 7,000,000, a figure that climbed to over 12,000,000 people by 1025 AD.<ref name="Tread570">{{harvnb|Treadgold|1997|p=570}}.</ref> The numbers began falling steadily to 9,000,000 people at 1204 AD and even lower to 5,000,000 people at 1282 AD with the arrival of the Turks.<ref name="Tread700">{{harvnb|Treadgold|1997|p=700}}.</ref>

==Population estimates==
[[Image:Byzantine Empire animated.gif|thumb|400px|The Byzantine Empire may have had a population of over 26 million at its height.]]
{{refbegin}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|- 
! Year || Population<br>(estimated) || Area<br>(km<sup>2</sup>; estimated) || Population density<br>(per km<sup>2</sup>; estimated) ||Notes
|-
| 300 || 18,000,000<ref name="Tread137">{{harvnb|Treadgold|1997|p=137}}.</ref> || 2,000,000||9|| Roman East
|-
| 311 || 17,000,000<ref name="Tread137"/> || 2,100,000||8.1|| Roman East
|-
| 457 || 16,000,000<ref name="Tread137"/> || 2,350,000||6.81|| Roman East
|-
| 518 || 19,000,000<ref name="Tread236">{{harvnb|Treadgold|2001|p=236}}.</ref>|| 2,300,000||8.26||
|-
| 540 || 26,000,000<ref name="Tread278">{{harvnb|Treadgold|1997|p=278}}.</ref>|| 3,200,000||8.13||Just before the [[Plague of Justinian]]
|-
| 565 || 20,000,000<ref name="Tread278"/>|| 3,400,000||5.88||[[Justinian I]]'s death
|-
| 600 || 17,000,000<ref name="Tread278"/>|| 2,900,000||5.86||
|-
| 641 || 10,500,000<ref name="Tread236"/>|| 1,500,000||7||
|-
| 668 || 10,000,000<ref name="Tread236"/> || 1,300,000||7.69||
|-
| 775 || 7,000,000<ref name="Tread236"/> || 880,000||7.95||
|- 
| 842 || 8,000,000<ref name="Tread236"/> || 1,000,000||8||
|-
| 959 || 9,000,000<ref name="Tread236"/> || 1,100,000||8.18||
|-
| 1025 || 12,000,000<ref name="Tread570"/>|| 1,675,000||7.16||[[Basil II]]'s death
|- 
| 1097 || 5,000,000<ref name="Tread700"/> || 555,000||9.09||[[Battle of Dorylaeum (1097)|First Crusade]]
|-
| 1143 || 10,000,000<ref name="Tread700"/> || 1,000,000||10||[[John II Komnenos|John II]]'s death
|-
| 1204 || 9,000,000<ref name="Tread700"/> || 610,000||14.75||[[Fourth Crusade]]
|-
| 1282 || 5,000,000<ref name="Tread841">{{harvnb|Treadgold|1997|p=841}}.</ref> || 550,000||9.09||[[Michael VIII]]'s death
|-
| 1312 || 2,000,000<ref name="Tread841"/> || 460,000||4.35||
|- 
| 1320 || 2,000,000<ref name="Tread236"/> || 420,000||4.76||
|}
{{refend}}

==See also==
* [[Armenians in the Byzantine Empire]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|editor-last=James|editor-first=Liz|title=A Companion to Byzantium |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d1Mt-t-bgzoC&pg=PA3|location=Chichester, West Sussex|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2010|isbn=978-1-4051-2654-0}}
*{{cite book|last=Treadgold|first=Warren T.|title=A History of the Byzantine State and Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nYbnr5XVbzUC|location=Stanford, CA|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=1997|isbn=0-8047-2630-2}}
*{{cite book|last=Treadgold|first=Warren T.|title=A Concise History of Byzantium|year=2001|location=Basingstoke|publisher=Palgrave|isbn=0-333-71829-1|url=https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof00trea|url-access=registration}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|editor-last=Laiou|editor-first=Angeliki E.|editor-link=Angeliki Laiou|title=The Economic History of Byzantium from the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century|year=2002|location=Washington DC|publisher=Dumbarton Oaks|isbn=0-88402-288-9|url=https://www.doaks.org/resources/publications/books/the-economic-history-of-byzantium}}
*{{cite book|last1=Mcevedy|first1=Colin|last2=Jones|first2=Richard|title=Atlas of World Population History|year=1978|location=United Kingdom|publisher=Penguin Books Ltd. and Allen Lane|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/265075586}}
*{{cite book|last=Page|first=Gill|title=Being Byzantine: Greek Identity Before the Ottomans, 1200-1420|year=2008|edition=1|location=United Kingdom|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521871815|oclc=302061918}}

==External links==
*{{cite web|author=Howard Wiseman|title=18 Centuries of Roman Empire|year=2002–2011|url=http://www.ict.griffith.edu.au/wiseman/Roman/RomanEmpire.html}}
{{Byzantine Empire topics}}
[[Category:Society of the Byzantine Empire]]
[[Category:Society of Greece]]
[[Category:Demographics]]
[[Category:Demographics of Europe]]
[[Category:Demographics of the Middle East]]