What's the Population of Panem?

[penfold_x]

This question is closely related to the geography of Panem, but unfortunately, we don't get as many clues to base speculation on, especially if you define canon narrowly. We know from the first chapter of The Hunger Games that there are about eight thousand people in District Twelve. Katniss tells us that the Capitol is a city, and speaks about

Comments

[seta_suzume]

I haven't given much thought to numbers, but I definitely feel like Four would be around where you place it in the size-ranking.

And I don't see a lot of higher education in Four either.

"Back in the day" with Mags, I believe the doctor she saw in town was a native citizen of Four, but had been educated in another district prior to the Dark Days and then once the fences were up and such, the ability to train anyone else, like Estelle from the Club, was up to how well someone like that could pass on what he knew...which just wouldn't do it for the most part, I think. And particularly if Capitol citizens are visiting Four (which I think some must), there would need to be someone they'd consider qualified to treat them in an emergency.

If they were Threes, I imagine some of the more intellectually minded Fours might be interested in filling the menial positions around the hospital to get to talk with them! With Capitol people the divide might be too large (I figure district citizens never/rarely have a chance to interact with the bottom-rung Capitol people they would relate to better).

[penfold_x]

I haven't given much thought to numbers, but I definitely feel like Four would be around where you place it in the size-ranking.

:D :D :D

"Back in the day" with Mags, I believe the doctor she saw in town was a native citizen of Four, but had been educated in another district prior to the Dark Days and then once the fences were up and such, the ability to train anyone else, like Estelle from the Club, was up to how well someone like that could pass on what he knew...which just wouldn't do it for the most part, I think.

Yes, I think that's a problem. There's obviously a lot you can pass on through an apprenticeship-type system, but I think medicine is the sort of profession that needs a lot of hands-on training and resources (and is why it's so expensive to train doctors).

I figure district citizens never/rarely have a chance to interact with the bottom-rung Capitol people they would relate to better

Yes, the doctors from the Capitol are probably all middle class and above, I suppose. They closest someone in Four could get maybe is if someone brought along their nanny or other household servant(s)?

[seta_suzume]

^^

Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking- it takes too many things that an apprentice-ship system can't handle.

They closest someone in Four could get maybe is if someone brought along their nanny or other household servant(s)?
That's an interesting thought! I definitely imagine upper class Capitolites traveling with their entourages.

And then I do think some of the less heavily monitored Victors and/or just the Victors in general in the pre-Snow days (when I let things be a bit more haphazard, ha ha) have managed to encounter a wider variety of Capitol citizens, but, of course, since a lot of the Victors are outsiders in their community anyone, how far does their word go? :/