Demographics of the Empire

"The duodecennial Imperial Census is one of the most complicated works of bureaucracy imaginable, involving the coordination of hundreds of scholars and tens-of-thousands of conscripted 'reckoners' under the direction of the sixty-four regional nomarchs.  Six years of meticulous preparation are ended by a frantic month of actual census-taking, only to be followed by another six years of compiling and analyzing the assembled documentation, which can fill entire libraries."

-Myngot Damen
A View of the Floating World: Inside the Imperial Court
1102 After

In the year 1392 After, the 116th Imperial Census was concluded.  Six years later, in 1398 After, the official Nomarchian Conclave presented its findings to the Imperial Hebdomad, which stated that the population of the Armant Empire stood at 32,068,117 recognized individuals, with the population of Armant Proper standing near to twenty-six-million, with the farms and satellite settlements making up the balance.

According to the 116th Imperial Census, the demographics of the Armant Empire are as follows:

The Imperial Census only tallies those who are considered "recognized individuals," which means that there is a certain subset of the population which is not considered when compiling the official numbers.  These unrecognized include individuals without a declared lineage (either a family or an organization) as well as those who do not recognize imperial law (such as bandits in the wilderness, the anarchic ratfolk who eke out a living in the underbelly of Armant Proper, or the heretical kobold cults that infest the mountains).

Being a recognized individual entitles one to protection under the Imperial Aegis, which includes protection against theft, assault, banditry, fraud, and unlawful indenture.  Further, it makes one eligible to apply for enrollment in the Armant military—the Legion of the Rock—and to sit the annual application exams for a government posting.  One must be recognized if they wish to own property, conduct business with the Guild of Banking and Indenture (and most other Guilds), or gain access to any but the lowest tiers of Armant Proper.

For the most part, a person will automatically be considered a recognized individual unless they are a member of a suspect population (in which case they will need to produce documentation of some sort, which can usually be given by a local magistrate's office) or they have been exiled and their notoriety is such that their face is recognizable.  Children generally gain their status as recognized individuals in a coming-of-age ceremony held when they are the equivalent of 3 or 4 human years old (which ranges from roughly 1 year old for goblins and grippli to over a decade for elves).

There is also a difference between a "recognized individual" and a "citizen;" all citizens are recognized, but not all of the recognized are citizens.  To be a citizen, one must not only be a member of a recognized lineage, but have reached the age of majority for their race (from 12 for goblins, to 16 for humans, to 110 for elves) and currently fulfill at least one of the following requirements:

1. Be a member in good standing of a recognized Guild
2. Own property with a combined estimated valued of at least 640 gold rings
3. Have served a minimum of 4 years in the Legion of the Rock with an honorable discharge or promotion to officer rank
4. Received a ranking of at least "scholar" on an official Imperial civil service examination

At any given time, only about a third of all recognized individuals have earned the right to be citizens.  Doing so increases the citizen's tax burden, but also entitles them to preferential treatment and rights beyond those available to non-citizens, the most important of which is the right to Petition.  Exercising the right to Petition guarantees the citizen a meeting with their local magistrate "within a reasonable frame of time" (though what that means, exactly, is up to interpretation), where they can make a request of the government.  They might request that a civil matter be taken up by a court, or petition for new legislation to be brought before the district's nomarch for consideration, or even apply to receive the use of Legion soldiers for some crucial activity, from making up for a temporary manpower shortfall in a business venture to hunting bandits in the hinterlands.  In addition to the right to Petition, citizenship also has a number of unofficial benefits: most Guilds will not do business in any great quantity with non-citizens, they are permitted more ready access to the higher levels of Armant Proper, and there is greater leeway in what sumptuary laws they are subject to.

Citizenship is a status that the individual must maintain, and at any point that they no longer meet the minimum requirements, they are stripped of its privileges and obligations.  It can also be revoked if the individual is found guilty by an Imperial court for any of a number of crimes, and is usually paired with a sentence of imprisonment, execution, or exile.