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harry potter - Is there an estimate of how many people work for Ministry of Magic?


it seems that with some exceptions (couple of shops/eateries in magical villages, Gringott's Bank, newspapers and Hogwarts are all that come to mind), a lot of wizards/witches the magical world seems to be employed in some way by the Ministry of Magic.


Is there a good estimate (either based on exact character count, or actual calculation based on a plausible model) of how many wizards/witches work for Ministry of Magic (either head count, or as % of adult population)?



Answer



The absolute minimum is 500. From book 4 (p.93, first Am. ed.), regarding the quidditch world cup stadium.



Seats a hundred thousand... Ministry task force of five hundred have been working on it all year.



So there must be at least enough employees to keep the government running with 500 missing. I'd say that it's unlikely the government could function (to the extent that it ever does) with under, say, half. So that would be around 1000. JKR has said the wizarding population is around 3000. With 1000 in the ministry and 1000 attending Hogwarts, leaving 1000 (less small children) for other jobs - Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, St. Mungos, etc.


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