Forum:Population error on Westeros page

The section of the Westeros wiki page, referring to "In the Books" incorrectly describes the North as having the third lowest population in Westeros in the book series. This is never stated anywhere in the books. The wiki suggests that this conclusion is reached based on the comparative army sizes raised during the War of the Five Kigns. Well, this is an incorrect conclusion, based on an incomplete understanding of the series. Martin has in fact heavily implied in one of his SSM quotes, that the Stormlands have the second lowest mainland population (with Dorne having the lowest, as confirmed by Doran Martell himself).

Furthermore, Martin has also stated that the North can raise an equivalent number of men to the Vale. Considering that the Vale is a rather small, very densely populated area, it is only logical that the Vale will be able to marshal a higher percentage of its total population to war than the vast, wild and sparsely populated North ever could. Thus, if these two regions can raise a similar number of men to arms, despite the North not being able to raise as high a percentage of its population to arms as the Vale can, this would logically mean that the North has a higher overall population than the Vale.

Therefore, at the very least, we know with reasonable certainty that at the very least, the Iron Isles, Dorne, Stormlands and the Vale all fall below the North in terms of overall population numbers.

We have no information to compare the population numbers of the North with any of the remaining three regions (the Reach, West and Riverlands). All we know is that the Reach has the highest population of any region. Thus, all we can definitively say, is that the North has a lower population than the Reach, and a higher population than the Iron Isles, Dorne, Stormlands and the Vale.

We have no evidence either way where the North lies in comparison to the West or the Riverlands. Stating definitively that either of these two regions are more populated than the North, is therefore not possible.

The distinction always has to be made between overall population numbers, and population density. While the North has by far the lowest population density, there is no evidence that it has any fewer people overall than either the West or the Riverlands, while there is clear evidence that it has more people than the Vale, Stormlands, Dorne and Iron Isles. The key issue to further remember is that the North raises a lower percentage of its overall population to arms than any other region. Therefore, if the North has a smaller army than another region, it is no guarantee that it has a smaller population. And if it has an equal army size to another region, it most assuredly has a higher overall population, due to the low mobilization rate in the North, compared to other regions.

The Westeros page on the wiki therefore needs to be updated to correct this error.