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Lawyers around the world: official counts by country
How many lawyers are there in the world? No single global register exists, but national bars and regulators publish official counts. We gathered the numbers for 10 countries that together account for 5,740,470 registered professionals. India leads in absolute volume, Brazil has the highest density (one lawyer for every 141 people) and Japan sits at the opposite end, with one for every 2,772. The table shows each country's total, reference year and ratio to population.
Registered lawyers in 10 countries, according to each country's official source
| Country | Registered lawyers | Reference | Per 100k people | People per lawyer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| India | 2,013,081 | August 2023 | 140.9 | 710 |
| Brazil | 1,498,419 | July 2026 | 709.7 | 141 |
| United States | 1,322,649 | 2024 | 394.9 | 253 |
| Italy | 233,260 | December 31, 2024 | 397.0 | 252 |
| England and Wales | 177,841 | June 2026 | 292.2 | 342 |
| Germany | 166,504 | January 1, 2025 | 197.1 | 507 |
| Canada | 110,619 | 2022 | 275.9 | 362 |
| Australia | 97,500 | October 2024 | 366.0 | 273 |
| France | 75,681 | January 1, 2024 | 111.0 | 901 |
| Japan | 44,916 | March 31, 2023 | 36.1 | 2,772 |
What the numbers show
In absolute volume, India registers 2,013,081 advocates, followed by Brazil with 1,498,419 and the United States with 1,322,649. The reading changes once population becomes the yardstick: Brazil packs 709.7 lawyers per 100k people, nearly double the American 394.9, while India, despite the largest headcount in the group, has only 140.9 per 100k. Japan is the extreme case of relative scarcity: 44,916 bengoshi for 124,516,650 residents, or 36.1 per 100k. Between the Brazilian and the Japanese density the gap is 19.7 times.
A comparability warning applies: each country counts a slightly different profession. In England and Wales the figure covers solicitors only (barristers excluded), same in Australia, in Canada the count includes Quebec notaries, and reference years range from 2022 to 2026 depending on each source's official publication. The totals are meant to size orders of magnitude, not rankings to the second decimal.
Sources and method
Each count comes from the official body that registers the profession in its own country, for the year shown in the table. The population ratio uses World Bank, 2023 population estimates (England and Wales: ONS mid-2023). This page publishes aggregate counts only, never individual professional records.
- Brazil: OAB Federal Council, Quadro de Advogados (official page updated daily), retrieved July 10, 2026
- India: Ministry of Law and Justice of India, official reply in the Rajya Sabha on August 10, 2023, published on the data.gov.in open data portal
- United States: American Bar Association, 2023-24 National Lawyer Population Survey (2024 count)
- Italy: Cassa Forense and Censis, Rapporto sull'Avvocatura 2025 (data as of December 31, 2024)
- England and Wales: Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), monthly regulated population statistics, June 2026
- Germany: Bundesrechtsanwaltskammer (BRAK), Mitgliederstatistik as of January 1, 2025
- Canada: Federation of Law Societies of Canada, Federation Statistics Report 2022 (Total Active/Practicing Membership row)
- Australia: Urbis, 2024 National Profile of Solicitors, prepared for the Law Society of New South Wales (data as of October 31, 2024)
- France: French Ministry of Justice, Statistique sur la profession d'avocat, as of January 1, 2024
- Japan: Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA), White Paper on Attorneys 2023
Last updated: · Methodology and sources