On page 40 of the Suns of Fortune supplement I was reading that "Nashal is a sprawling and lovely riverside city of half a million citizens." Further on the page though in the description of Qaestar Town it says, "The largest city on Talus -- and the Double Worlds -- with a quarter million people..."

By my math the city of Nashal (located on Talus) is twice as large as the largest city on Talus...?

Liars! We'll see them hanged for this!

You see, when they're quoting that half-a-million figure, they're talking about the entire Nashal metro area, whereas Qaestar Town is an independent city, so technically the largest city on the double worlds. [/rabid fan rationalization]

Edit: In all seriousness, though, it's possible that they're talking about geographic area and not population when they call it the "largest city." I'd have to read the entire entry in context to be sure, though...

Compared to our own real population sizes, I find all the listed populations extremely low given the age of the SW Galaxy. However, on a recent Order 66 podcast the FFG developer for Suns of Fortune stated all the stats in the book were vetted by Lucas and approved.

One thing to consider when comparing populations in star wars (or other spacefaring settings) and real world populations is that currently, we have nowhere to go. Our planet is housing every human, barring brief stints in orbit. Star wars has technology that lets you go to another planet. If sapient life is not found on every planet, spreading out to other worlds could be fairly easy, leading to less crowded planets.

One thing to consider when comparing populations in star wars (or other spacefaring settings) and real world populations is that currently, we have nowhere to go. Our planet is housing every human, barring brief stints in orbit. Star wars has technology that lets you go to another planet. If sapient life is not found on every planet, spreading out to other worlds could be fairly easy, leading to less crowded planets.

Plus places that suck, people do leave and populations shrink, look at Detroit.

One thing to consider when comparing populations in star wars (or other spacefaring settings) and real world populations is that currently, we have nowhere to go. Our planet is housing every human, barring brief stints in orbit. Star wars has technology that lets you go to another planet. If sapient life is not found on every planet, spreading out to other worlds could be fairly easy, leading to less crowded planets.

Plus places that suck, people do leave and populations shrink, look at Detroit.

I laugh to myself when I think about how many of the new soldiers I work with have come from Michigan in the last five years. I'm from there (Flint specifically) myself, and I'm happy I got out in 1995.

Motown is a sad case to be sure. It does however provide an example of how even a planet with an urban population could shrink to obscurity with changes in economics and trade.

Also the Star Wars universe has a prodigious death rate.

There are whole passels of folks living and working on capital scale ships. Like modern day aircraft carriers, they are small cities.

Every Star Destroyer, Mon Cal Cruiser, and the like that went down was an awful lot of dead folks.

Hutts and gangsters kill indiscriminately. As people spread out across the galaxy their opportunities to breed can actually lessen. The aliens living next to you on the frontier probably aren't viable mates.

The massive flora and fauna likes to eat folks.

All in all people die a lot.

Also this is only 20 years after a massive war where a whole lot of folks died in it not just clones and droids. How many people died in planet sieges or bombardments? How many refugee ships were blasted into space dust to provoke a confrontation. How many terror or WMDs were used in the conflict that are not demostrated on the cartoons or movies? How many folks who just happened to be standing to close to a Jedi when Order 66 went off got blasted by overzealous clone troopers. Heck, how many Neimoidians died when the Jedi's starfigher careened and detonated in that city? My guess is that repopulation was going really slow.

I laugh to myself when I think about how many of the new soldiers I work with have come from Michigan in the last five years. I'm from there (Flint specifically) myself, and I'm happy I got out in 1995.

I went through basic training with a guy from Detroit. When we went to qualify on the M-16, he asked if he could be excused from shooting the weapon because he was afraid of guns. When the instructors asked him why, he explained that he had developed hoplophobia after being shot. They made him shoot anyway.

True story.

Hutts and gangsters kill indiscriminately.

No, they really don't kill indiscriminately. Why? It's bad for business. Successful criminal empires tend to be very selective on how they apply violence.

Also this is only 20 years after a massive war where a whole lot of folks died in it not just clones and droids. How many people died in planet sieges or bombardments? How many refugee ships were blasted into space dust to provoke a confrontation. How many terror or WMDs were used in the conflict that are not demostrated on the cartoons or movies? How many folks who just happened to be standing to close to a Jedi when Order 66 went off got blasted by overzealous clone troopers. Heck, how many Neimoidians died when the Jedi's starfigher careened and detonated in that city? My guess is that repopulation was going really slow.

Humans at the very least tend to repopulate at an increased frequency following wars. Of course, most of the dead on the Republic side were clones, so things are a bit different.