Orks M41

No canon number of Ork-controlled worlds exists. The lore states Orks inhabit more worlds than the Imperium of Man, which controls approximately one million planets. Ork territory is fragmented across thousands of independent empires, warbands, and feral Ork worlds. The estimate of 2 million accounts for the stated superiority over Imperial territory plus the many feral Ork worlds that persist on planets where Orks have ever fought, since their fungal spores are nearly impossible to fully eradicate.

Ork society is governed by a simple principle: might makes right. The biggest, strongest Ork leads as Warboss. Society is organized into mobs, warbands, and tribes, with no central government. Occasionally a powerful Warboss unites multiple tribes into a Waaagh!, a combined migration and holy war, but these coalitions dissolve when the leader is killed. The system is a kratocracy (rule by the strong) organized along tribal lines.

No canon population figure exists. Lore states Orks are the most numerous sapient species in the galaxy, outnumbering even humanity. The Imperium of Man has roughly quadrillions of humans across about one million worlds. Fan estimates for Orks range from tens of quadrillions to quintillions, based on the number of Ork-inhabited worlds (more than the Imperium's million) and estimated populations per world. The extreme uncertainty reflects the lore's deliberate vagueness and the boom-bust nature of Ork populations driven by WAAAGH! cycles.