Quick Answer
how many lawyers are there in the world in 2025?
There are roughly 20 million lawyers in the world.
According to the ABA (American Bar Association), a lawyer is a “licensed professional who advises and represents others in legal matters” In this article, we will answer the question, how many lawyers are there in the world?
In this resource, we will discuss how many lawyers exist on the global level and what countries have the most lawyers.
We will also discuss a few statistics about lawyers and the types of lawyers out there.
Let’s talk about lawyers.
Key Statistics
- There are roughly 20 million lawyers in the world.
- There are 1.35 million lawyers in the United States.
- Italy has 248,000 practicing lawyers.
- Germany has 158,000 lawyers.
- Romania has 24,000 registered lawyers.
- India has 1.3 million lawyers.
- Latvia has only 1,350 lawyers.
How Many Lawyers are There in the World in 2025?
There are roughly 20 million lawyers in the world.
In the United States, one in four of the 1.3 million lawyers live in California and New York alone.
In terms of per capita, the United States has the most lawyers with one lawyer for every 248 people in the country.
India has 1.35 million lawyers in the country, which ranks second only to the United States.
However, in terms of per capita, India has one lawyer for every 951 people living in the country.
So, while the United States and India have around the same number of lawyers, India is more populated.
As a result, it has fewer lawyers per capita.
Italy has 248,000 lawyers that practice in the country.
It’s well-known that Italy is home to many prestigious law schools, which is likely why they have such a dense population of these legal professionals.
In terms of per capita, Italy has one lawyer per every 260 people living there.
It ranks just after the United States in per capita terms.
Here’s more known data about how many lawyers there are:
- Germany is home to 158,00 licensed and practicing lawyers with one lawyer for every 516 people living there.
- Romania has one lawyer for every 885 citizens in the country, ranking this country as fourth with 24,000 practicing lawyers.
- Latvia is at the lower end of the lawyer pool on the globe with 1,350 practicing lawyers, or one lawyer for every 1,500 residents.
(ABA 2, Go Remotely, World Population Review)
How Long Do Lawyers Go to School?
To become a lawyer, you must complete the required education and take the bar exam.
It can take between 7 and 8 years to get your law degree.
Becoming a licensed, practicing lawyer requires more than a little time, effort, and education. It starts with getting your bachelor’s degree.
Before you can attend a law school you must prep and pass the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) and choose an ABA approved law school.
Master of Laws Degree (LLM): This degree requires a 4-year bachelor’s degree, a 3-year Juris Doctor degree, and 1 year of LLM.
This is a total of 8 years to acquire your degree.
If you want to practice law, you need to become licensed and take the bar exam or whatever exam is required by your country.
There are other elements in becoming a lawyer, so be sure you have a passion for it and the endurance to start and complete your education.
Depending upon where you live in the world, the requirements for becoming a lawyer may vary.
(Legaljobs.io)
How Much Do Lawyers Make?
In the United States, the average salary of a lawyer comes to $144,230 per year.
This salary is around three times the overall national average salary in the United States, which is $51,960 per year.
Switzerland pays lawyers the most with an average annual wage of $260,739. In Canada, the average salary for a lawyer account for $193,796 annually.
Australia’s average lawyer salary is $142,033 per year.
Lawyers in the Netherlands make an average of $134,370 per year.
Norway pays its lawyers an average of $131,041 each year. Japan’s average lawyer salary is $118,540 per year.
The United States isn’t the highest paying country in terms of average lawyer wages per year.
(After School Africa, Legal.io)
What’s the Difference Between a Lawyer and an Attorney?
All attorneys are lawyers. However, not all lawyers are attorneys. Don’t feel confused.
We were at first, but this information will clear things up for us. All lawyers and attorneys are graduates of law school.
Attorneys are people who passed the bar exam and have obtained a license to practice law in specific fields.
A lawyer also has a license to practice law, but an attorney is a lawyer that specializes in a specific area of law that lets them act as a legal authority within that specific arena.
Attorneys often specialize in areas of law such as family law, torts (personal injury), crime (criminal defense), and other areas of the law.
(BJM Law)
Lawyer Demographics
We have a few lawyer demographics for our curious readers.
- In the United States only 14.4% of all the nation’s lawyers are ABA members.
- In China, there are 300,000 lawyers which represents one lawyer for every 4,620 residents.
- High-profile lawyers can make $5 million per year, which equals around $2,400 per hour.
- In the United States, only 4.8% of all lawyers are Black/African American.
- New York has 182,296 lawyers, which is the largest concentration in the United States.
- Florida has 78,448 lawyers.
- Texas has 91,224 lawyers.
- Washington D.C has 56,135 lawyers.
- 23% of law school graduates are unable to secure employment nine months after graduation.
- Job growth among lawyers is expected to grow 10% between 2021 and 2031.
(BLS, Go Remotely, Legal.io)
Conclusion
Now we know how many lawyers exist in the world and how they are divided up among the countries of the world.
We have learned that the United States has the most lawyers per capita at one lawyer per 248 people.
How many lawyers are there worldwide?
There are roughly 20 million lawyers in the world.
