How many Maine Coons are there in the world?

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This is a very grand question and it is asked on the basis that somewhere there should be the information to answer it with some precision. But no. After searching diligently on the internet focusing on Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) registrations for the breed I came up with a blank. I could find no registration numbers on the CFA website. I searched high and low. 

I used the CFA custom search facility but nada. Nothing. I couldn't find any data on the number of Maine Coons in America never mind for the entire planet. That would be extraordinary if it existed.

Update: I have emailed Amanda at the CFA and asked her how many MCs are registered with her cat association. If she responds with an answer that'd be a start. I also asked her to hazard a guess at the overall number on the planet! No chance.

How many Maine Coons are there in the world?
Photo: Image by Robin Higgins from Pixabay.

Perhaps the big cat associations have a policy of not allowing public access to their registration database. Perhaps they don't want the public to know how many Maine Coons there are. I don't know. Do CFA registered breeders have access to this mythical database? Does it exist? It must.

Back in the day the most popular breed was decided on the number of registrations. But now it seems that it is decided on polls or some other means. Perhaps a survey. The Maine Coon is in the top 3 most popular breeds currently. I'd expect the numbers to have increased over the past ten years.

I have also searched TICA and Google Scholar (research studies) for this information without success. I have waffled enough. 😊

If a reader of this dismal post can provide some factual information on this topic, they'd be most welcome.

Image: MikeB and DALLE-E.

Some additional thoughts added later (April 2023)

It should be possible for the cat associations to get together and add up all the registered Maine Coons. This would provide an accurate number of Maine Coons in the world as all proper Maine Coons should be registered with a cat association.

If the cat association administrators got together and asked, how many Maine Coon (MC) are there in the world? they should be able to produce an answer. 

The point is that the cat associations should know the answer but I don't think they are that bothered about it and they aren't telling anyone.

The woman running Maine Coon Central waffles endlessly as usual and comes up with a guess at 600,000 or more! That's crazy as far as I am concerned. If I were to guess a number, it would probably be below 100,000 with the vast majority in North America. 

There are an estimated 500m domestic and feral cats in the world but that is a guess too. You'll see wide variations and all websites are guessing.

In fact, my guess is that the total number of Maine Coons in the USA is considerably greater than all the other Maine Coons anywhere in the world combined.

Of course, I am referring to genuine purebred cats NOT Maine Coon mixes which are moggies.

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