This report presents a standardized, broadly accepted assessment of the population composition within the Imperium of Man, categorized according to civil and military status. The analysis concerns only living, organic citizens, and excludes all bio-mechanical entities such as servitors, Skitarii, Tech-Priests, or Automata.
Estimated Population Distribution of the Imperium
| Sector | Estimated Share | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Menial Labor Clades | ≈ 50% | Unpaid or low-paid labor class. Includes slaves, serfs, factory workers, mine shaft crews, waste handlers, sanitation crawlers, duct maintenance workers, manual haulers, and other low-tier functions. Largely illiterate and barred from the movement outside habitat. |
| Imperialis Militarum (and associated reserves) | ≈ 25% | Active and inactive military personnel: Astra Militarum, Planetary Defense Forces, conscription pools, militarized civilians, cadets and trainees. Includes support and logistics staff. In some worlds, military share exceeds 60%. |
| Ecclesiarchy Functionaries | ≈ 10% | Includes Confessors, Missionarius Galaxia, local preachers, temple staff, liturgical aides, and religious educators. Also includes low-tier cult clergy and district-level devotional personnel. |
| Technical Functions & Maintenance (non-Mechanicus) | ≈ 5% | Covers secular technical work: elevator custodians, shipyard workers, maintenance handlers, monitoring system personnel, and non-initiate Technomats. |
| Logistics and Bureaucratic Services | ≈ 5% | Members of Adeptus Administratum sub-divisions, scribes, ration overseers, transport recorders, and sectorial resource allocators. May be higher in administrative worlds and capital planets. |
| Science, Re-education and Internal Security, | ≈ 5% | Includes Enforcers, Inquisitorial security forces, informant and assassin networks, commissars, Skolana Psykana personnel, sanctioned scientific researchers, and agents responsible for producing and disseminating state-approved knowledge, creed and morale purity materials. |
Final Statement:
“By the quill and the seal, the Imperium endures. Numbers are not lives—they are resource designations.”
— Prefect Quastor Halverin, Officio Demographica
Ignis Aeternus WH 40K campaign notes 