The population of the Byzantine Empire encompassed all ethnic and tribal groups living there, mainly Byzantine Greeks, but also Albanians, Armenians, Assyrians, Bulgarians, Goths, Kartvelians, Latini, Levantine Arabs, Serbs and Croats, Thracians, Turkic tribes, Thraco-Romans, Illyro-Romans, Tzans, Vlachs and other groups. It fluctuated throughout the state's millennial history. The reign of the Emperor Justinian I in the mid-sixth century was the high point of the empire's expansion; however, the arrival of plague in 541 AD and its subsequent recurrences caused a severe depletion of the population. After the reign of Emperor Heraclius () and the loss of the empire's overseas territories, Byzantium was limited to the Balkans and Anatolia. When the empire began to recover after a series of conflicts in the 8th century and its territories stabilized, its population began to recover. By the end of the 8th century the population of the empire was around 7,000,000, a figure that climbed to over 12,000,000 people by 1025 AD.. The numbers began falling steadily to 9,000,000 people at 1204 AD and even lower to 5,000,000 people at 1282 AD with the arrival of the Turks..

Population estimates

Year Population(estimated) Area(km2; estimated) Population density(per km2; estimated) Notes 300 18,000,000. 2,000,0009 Roman East 311 17,000,000 2,100,0008.1 Roman East 457 16,000,000 2,350,0006.81 Roman East 518 19,000,000. 2,300,0008.26 540 26,000,000. 3,200,0008.13Just before the Plague of Justinian 565 20,000,000 3,400,0005.88Justinian I's death 600 17,000,000 2,900,0005.86 641 10,500,000 1,500,0007 668 10,000,000 1,300,0007.69 775 7,000,000 880,0007.95 842 8,000,000 1,000,0008 959 9,000,000 1,100,0008.18 1025 12,000,000 1,675,0007.16Basil II's death 1097 5,000,000 555,0009.09First Crusade 1143 10,000,000 1,000,00010John II's death 1204 9,000,000 610,00014.75Fourth Crusade 1282 5,000,000. 550,0009.09Michael VIII's death 1312 2,000,000 460,0004.35 1320 2,000,000 420,0004.76

See also Armenians in the Byzantine Empire

References

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Further reading

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