Researchers who looked at the distribution of buried coins (in lieu of savings accounts) in the ancient world has led to new population data for the Roman Empire. The study concludes that the total population of the Roman Empire during the end of the first century BCE was 4 to 5 million. For related information, check out my listings of the largest cities throughout history.
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It is hard to believe that the entire Roman Empire, stretching from Scotland to Syria and encompassing two million square miles on land plus a million square miles of sea could have so small a population. Only five million?
The method of counting discovered coin hoards strikes me as very unreliable. What percentage of persons had enough wealth to bury. What percentage was found over the centuries and never recorded. Surely the threats to local populations varied immensely over not only time but over geographic area. Just because the Danube border was threatened is no reason for people in Mauretania or Bithynia to feel unsafe.
I am no scholar of the period but the population estimate strikes me a much too low, by an order of magnitude.
I believe this isn’t exactly correct. The entire population of the Roman Empire at its largest extent is guessed to be around 60.000.000 inhabitants. Your number, though, isn’t incorrect either, the only difference is that you’re speaking of Roman Citizens, e.g. inhabitants of the Roman Empire with every right you could posess in the Empire. But, we mustn’t forget that there were slaves and foreigners who made a large majority during the Roman time, and they didn’t have the rights of a Roman citizen.