Italy
56 Milion people, 750.000 hunting licenses

Hi,
Sorry if I offended... My numbers came from an Economist article, and the previous posters were right. France has more hunters in terms of numbers than the other European countries, though Northern European countries have more as a percentage of population. It was a while since I read the article and I got it mixed up...

Here is a citation:
"With 1.6m regular, paid-up chasseurs (not counting another 3.5m occasional field-sportsmen), France has more people licensed to go after game than any other country in Europe. It outguns the British by two to one, the Germans by five to one (though proportionately more Scandinavians shoot and hunt)." (The Economist, Feb 21, 1998. Vol. 346, Iss. 8056; pg. 51)

Marterius,
Your statistics are correct;
1.6 million licenses, for a population of 60 million.

Numbers to be proud of on all counts!
Unfortunately, I believe France/Italy used to harbour even greater numbers of hunters 15-30 years ago. I hope the decline slows down at least before we become negligeable.
Can anyone comment on which countries/areas seem the most pro-hunting (not in terms of legislation, but general culture/history and views of the non-hunting community)? I remember rumours that rural Sweden sure slows down in September, most of Ireland still goes nuts for foxhunting but some countries like Belgium/Netherlands with 30,000 hunters each seem to have lost most of the heritage, especially in the cities.