[Man-of-the-Wold]

This thread, besides the question of demographics, also gets into the question of elites and aristocracy. Implicitly, Tolkien paints a world with sometimes incredible achievements of civilization by very sparse populations. Gondor was unusually densely populated but at most only in the 100,000's. The achievements one might ascribe to the special gifts of Elves/Eldar and Dunedain.

Tolkien also is rather egalitarian or a least benign in his portrayal of social strata; it is fantasy. In general, one might consider the Dunedain to represent for large part a kind of aristocracy or nobility in both Arnor and Gondor, with exceptions either way, under which were larger numbers of mostly: (1) Southmen (like the natives of the White Mountains or Breelanders, and also seemingly a little related to the House of Haleth), and (2) Northmen (Edain-related people of Rhovanion in Gondor and many of the allied peoples of the North, who appear to derive mostly from the House of Beor), as well as Hobbits.

Even before the fall of Numenor (especially in Gondor), the Dunedain presumably dominated the land-owning, military retinues, guards and other elite activities (but probably large standing armies did not exist), in leading and protecting a broad class of regular freemen (never seemingly "serfs" in any way) that largely consisted of people with non-Dunedain ancestry. In Arnor, however, these "allies" were apparently quite reduced after the War of the Last Alliance.

In Gondor, which was also not a rigidly stratified or negatively feudal society, there was considerable admixture and lessening of distinctions and purity over more than 3,000 years(!), which had both its pros & cons, a Faramir ruefully comments.

In the North, even as the Dunedain were relatively small in number (especially after the disaster of Gladden Fields), their allied/subject people were also not numerous, and like the Dunedain they shrunk through the centuries as a result of disease, famine, floods, extreme winters, Angmar & its servants, and even internecine warfare.

Recall, Arnor's decline more than anything arose from disunity. A presumably rather small number of Dunedain (including some of high rank) were lost through absorption by and eventual destruction of the mysterious hill-people. Cardolan's Dunedain were probably significant and only somewhat interbred, but they and other inhabitants of that region were, sooner or later, all but wiped out.

So, we are really talking about the remnant of Arthedain's Dunedain, who might have numbered as many as, say, 10,000 at one point. They seem to have kept separate from the Bree folk, but they probably did assimilate with what remained of the Beorian peoples of the North, who appear to be entirely gone by the time of the War of the Rings, and for example, might have been the previous inhabitants of the Shire.

Relatively numerous and pure-blood, the Arthedain people still shrunk because of plague, war and evidently low birth rates, so that in the aftermath of the Battle of Fornost, a good guess might be 1,000–2,000, a great many of which were women and children, or sooner or later, would have blended into the countryside or left for other places.

As for the Dunedain of the North—many of whose fighting-age men became the illustrious Rangers—they comprised a core group that might reasonably be guessed at (by others above) around 1,000. They evidently maintained, at times, rather long-term settlements around Lake Evendim and The Angle, but probably dwelt secretly in a number of places at any given time, with some degree of nomadic behavior.

How many could and did engage in really active and dedicated Ranger operations is hard to say. Though still rather long-lived, many probably did not compare with Aragorn's longevity, so that probably still many men were too young (not trained and seasoned enough) or too old (to undertake the rigors of extended patrols).

If Aragorn can be taken as a model, the Rangers did not normally go out armored or well-armed, or even in groups, any of which would have attracted too much attention. For the more oblivious of Bree and The Shire, they were just loners wondering about. So, to help effectively maintain a semblance of peace and order, the Rangers in general had to practice rather well-honed and difficult skills. Their opponents, of course, were often easily cowed ruffians or wayward orcs.

Ultimately, despite the Rangers, evil got through or out into Eriador. Even the westward Shire had to defend itself at times and maintain a border guard, and evidently there were small hamlets in the Northeast that fell victim to Trolls. Eriador's main protection was that it was so empty, even if beyond Bree there were undoubtedly supposed to be small villages of Big People farmers here and there.

So, starting with an overall group of 1,000, probably only about 100 were on active Ranger duty at any given time. This they did as continuing service to their subjects, who they had an obligation to protect, and one might say as a form of penance.

The Watch on The Shire might have brought a few more out, so that maybe as many as 30 could have gathered at Sarn Ford alone as the Ringwraiths approached, including having some better armament at hand, but not much or they could have withstood the Ringwraiths far longer (was it some or all nine?). I doubt that a significant number of Rangers were supposed to have been killed by The Nine, although more might have been put out of action for a long while.

I see the Dunedain of the North living rather comfortably, albeit in rustic, impermanent and widely scattered settlements. Some of the menfolk were likely involved in special skills or trades or in maintaining herds and some farmland, but I doubt that they were self-sufficient in terms of food and other necessities. Like the maybe few hundred Eldar in Rivendell, they likely had relatively great wealth to draw on, and they also had opportunities to undertake trade with Lindon, Blue Mountain dwarves, and local agrarian folks, for which people in the more isolated farming villages, or perhaps a Farmer Maggot, were more cognizant of the what the Rangers were all about.

Beyond being low-key scouts, foiling the luckless baddie that might seek to despoil or enthrall whatever little or big people still lived in Eriador, the Dunedain of the North also may have frequently engaged in more organized campaigns (possibly at times with Elrond's people) to take out orc hot spots in the Misty Mountains or the like. Probably more than Ranger work, such efforts tended to keep their numbers in check.

In such cases, they could have armed and horsed themselves as well (though not as splendidly) as any in Middle-Earth, like the 30 that came south to aid Aragorn. In theory, the might have amassed 200–250 men, even if some would have had to stay and guard their own noncombatants, depending on the circumstances. Nevertheless, in light of their dispersed dwellings and activities, such a mustering would have taken a month or more and was never done, and that forays over the centuries into the Misty Mountains or what not were undertaken but by 50–75 at most.

In any case, it is entirely reasonable that only 30 could be gathered to aid Aragorn in no more than a week's time. Anyone would have had to have been locatable with two days. These would have been limited in terms of those in probably the environs of Rivendell, getting themselves provisioned for an unusually long journey, and seeing to security of the particular settlements involved.

So, I come up with 30 being a relatively small representation of the total strength of the still modestly sized Dunedain of North. Why then, though, are The Shire and Bree seemingly left unguarded during the War of The Rings?

Well, as word spread out further from Elrond after Halbarad's departure, including news about the general eruption of war, as witnessed by Frodo from the Hill of Seeing, the Dunedain of the North probably continued to gather and organize. They should have concluded that Bree and The Shire could and would need to see to their own defense. This proved to be the case for Bree, and The Shire would have been just fine but for Saruman's having undermined it from within, which the Rangers could not have stopped, and evidently, like Gandalf, did not fully foresee.

Generally, I assume that the Dunedain of the North gathered and deployed their strength as follows at that time in a generally eastward direction:
1. To, of course, bolster the guard of their own people and settlements;
2. Possibly step up Ranger-like supervision of what tiny, more vulnerable communities might still have existed in pockets of eastern Eriador to counter Enemy-induced raids by mountain orcs or Dunlenders;
3. Others may have followed in the path of the Grey Company, but arrived too late in Rohan and then Gondor to directly assist Aragorn; or
4. Possibly in conjunction with some of Rivendell, a larger number could very well have marshaled themselves in an attempt to disrupt Misty Mountain orc groups, in order to help relieve the beleaguered Beornings and elves of Lothlorien, and so not miss out in contributing to the greatest events of the age.