Survivor count

The number of surviving Colonial citizens and military in the fleet was provided at intervals throughout the first season on a whiteboard on Colonial One, and in one instance spoken aloud in dialogue. In the second season, this number appears in the opening credits of every episode (sometimes jokingly referred to as the "Countdown to Extinction"), and displays limited omniscience, updating itself to reflect the deaths on Kobol early in that season. This page collects the figures available thus far, cross-referenced with date information from Re-Imagined Series Timeline.

Graph

Data

Day 6

• 33
  • 50,298 - initial estimate.
  • 49,998 - after revising count downward by 300.
  • 47,972 - after destruction of the Olympic Carrier.
  • 47,973 - one birth on the Rising Star.

Day 10

• Water
  • 47,958

Day 15

• You Can't Go Home Again
  • 47,958 - has not been updated to reflect the deaths of 13 pilots in "Act of Contrition"

Day 25

• Flesh and Bone
  • 47,954 - after deaths of three crew and one copy of Aaron Doral in "Litmus", discovery of Ellen Tigh one week prior to "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down", and the disappearance of Shelly Godfrey in "Six Degrees of Separation". The events of "Act of Contrition" have (still) not been accounted for.

Day 28

• Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down
  • 47,905 - given by Dr. Gaius Baltar, possibly excluding himself and Sharon Valerii. Unusually large reduction for a 3-day period.

Day 48

• Colonial Day
  • 47,898 - immediately after Valence's death. Includes four viper pilots killed in "The Hand of God".

Day 50

• Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I
  • 47,897

Day 51

• Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II
  • 47,887 - crew of Raptor 3 (at least 6) and Karma.
• Scattered
  • 47,875 - Galactica Boomer was probably removed after her assassination attempt.
• Valley of Darkness
  • 47,874 - Tarn
• Fragged
  • 47,862 - Flyboy, Socinus, others in Cylon boarding action.

Day 59 (at least)

• Resistance
  • 47,861 - Crashdown

Day 66 (est)

• The Farm
  • 47,857 - Four civillians onboard the Gideon.
• Home, Part I
  • 47,858 - After the return of Helo, who was presumed dead.

circa Day 100 (est.)

• Pegasus
  • 49,605 - After the return of the Battlestar Pegasus, a dramatic increase of 1,752 over the previous count.

Analysis

• The loss of the Olympic Carrier was catastrophic compared to any subsequent events to befall the fleet. Clearly no ship has been lost off-screen since that episode, and if any ship is destroyed, it will be quite noticeable. The total fleet count remains as it was at the start of the series (about 40 ships according to the Mini-Series, about 75 according to "The Farm").

• Since the end of "33", the fleet's population has been dying off at a fairly steady rate of approximately 2.1 persons per day. At this rate, the fleet will be completely depopulated in 62 years. If the show's failure to supply concrete dates continues during the remainder of the second season, perhaps the "half life" of the fleet's population can be used to "carbon date" future episodes.