Population of the Byzantine Empire

After the reign of Emperor Heraclius and the loss of all of its overseas borders, Byzantine territories were limited to the Balkans and Anatolia. When Byzantium 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 there were 7,000,000 Byzantines, a figure that climbed to over 12,000,000 people by 1025. The numbers began falling steadily to 9,000,000 people at 1204 and even lower to 5,000,000 people at 1282 with the arrival of the Turks.