Worldwide, how many individuals are currently licensed amateur radio
operators?  I know that in the United States, the number as of March
16, 2003,  was 683,841 according to
http://www.speroni.com/FCC/index.html.

I don't need to know an exact amount, but a good "ballpark" figure
would be nice, i.e. "between 2.5 million to 3.0 million" Basically,
something to 2 significant figures.

I am giving a talk about amateur radio and wanted to demonstrate how
pervasive the hobby is among peoples around the world.

Hello sinnergy:

Thanks for the interesting question. 

The most authoritative figures I was able to find put the number of
amateur radio operators at slightly over 3.0 million. You would be
very safe stating a range between 2.5 and 3.5 million.


Sources: 

The International Amateur Radio Union
URL: http://www.iaru.org/cal-182.html
Quote: "Please accept greetings and congratulations on World
Telecommunication Day from the world's three million radio amateurs."

Amateur radio
URL: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio
Quote: "Amateur radio, commonly called "ham radio", is a hobby enjoyed
by many people throughout the world; about 3 million worldwide and
700,000 in the USA."

Horndean and District Amateur Radio Club
URL: http://horndean.net/community/clubs/HDARC.shtml
Quote: "There are over 60,000 amateurs in the UK, well over 2 million
worldwide, and the number is increasing."

FEDERAL GRANT SUPPORTS RADIO AMATEURS’ ROLE IN HOMELAND SECURITY
URL: http://www.seas.gwu.edu/~emse232/emse232dec2002gue1.html
Quote: "Today, there are nearly 700,000 Amateur Radio operators in the
United States and more than 2.5 million worldwide."

Current RAC position on WRC 2003 Agenda item 1.23
URL: http://www.rac.ca/~darf/40metre.htm
Quote: "There are over 3 million licensed Amateur Radio operators
around the world, and the 7000 kHz band is one of the most heavily
used."


I hope this information helps with your research.       
       
If you need any clarification of the information I have provided,
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Thank you.        
       
websearcher-ga        
       
       
Search Strategy (on Google):        

worldwide "amateur radio" million

Heh... so simple I should have thought of it myself... just didn't
think of that "millions" search term.  Good work, I appreciate it.