How many rugby players are there? Is the sport growing?

Question

How many countries play rugby and does anyone have some idea of how many rugby players there are in the world? Is rugby growing (more countries, more players...?) We are trying to grow our rugby club in Innsbruck, Austria and any references or citations would be great. (also if you have any useful advice on how to develop our club, please feel free to message me)

Answer 1

dunno

Answer 2

http://www.irb.com/

just choose the union you want from the top right hand corner and it gives details such as numbers of players registered in each country etc