The Economic and Physical Dimensions of the United Federation of Planets

In Star Trek: First Contact, Captain Picard gives the diameter of the UFP as 8,000 light years.  Of course, the Milky Way is not 8,000 light years from the top of the disc to the bottom, so for the sake of generosity, I will assume that the UFP is roughly a shallow cylinder approximately 4,000 light years in radius by about 100 light years in height.  This gives the UFP a maximum volume of some 5.0E10 cubic light years.

Captain Picard also mentions that the UFP consists of "150 planets."[1]  I choose to interpret this as meaning that there are 150 races which are part of the United Federation of Planets, and hence, 150 racial homeworlds.  Each homeworld, I will assume, has a population similar to that of Earth during the early 2370s, between 5 and 15 billion, average 10 billion.  In reality, some homeworlds (like Vulcan) are probably much more sparsely populated.  This gives the Federation a base population of 1.5 trillion persons.

Additionally, there are approximately 1,000 major colony worlds[2] with populations between 5 million and 5 billion, average 2.13 billion.  Adding this population to the previous number gives us 3.63 trillion thus far.

Finally, there are 7,000 minor colony worlds with populations between a few thousand and a few million.  Population 3.5 billion for those colonies combined.

Rough total population of the UFP: Approximately 3.63 trillion persons.

Now we get to the root of why I believe that the United Federation of Planets is a complete non-entity in a fight against the Galactic Empire (though I must stress that this belief had nothing to do with this analysis).

In 2364, the United Federation of Planets commissioned starship U.S.S. Galaxy, NCC 70637[3].  Assuming that the scheme of NCC numbers is continuous through the foundation of the UFP and lacks any kind of gapping, the Starship Galaxy is then the 70,637th starship to be commissioned by the United Federation of Planets during its history.

NOTE: I DO NOT believe that the UFP has a fleet of 70,000 starships[4]. Merely that they have commissioned this many over their history.  Most of these ships have been long retired due to damage, defect or simple age.

70637 starships is nearly 70700 ships, over a period of 204 years.

70700/204 = 346.5, round to 347.

So the UFP has a mean annual starship production capability of roughly 350 Starships.  Somewhat greater in wartime and somewhat less in peacetime, but close to that overall.

Please note that with the typically accepted figure of approximately 8,000 starships in Starfleet[5], each ship will be, on average, hundreds of light years away from the next during peacetime - "The only ship in the sector" in truth, not just a figure of speech!

I will assume that the 700,000 ton U.S.S. Intrepid class starship[6] represents a fleetwide average of starship tonnage.  With this as a base (please note that this is a generous assumption, as several VERY small vessels, such as Data’s scoutship in Star Trek: Insurrection and runabouts such as the three attached to Deep Space 9, are given NCC numbers).  With this in mind:

350 * 700,000 = 2.45E8 tons of starships are produced every year in the United Federation of Planets.

2.4E8/2.0E-3 = 4.8E11

Therefore, the Federation gross domestic product is equal to the production of roughly 5E11 tons of starships per annum.

The question is, how much does this equal in real world terms?

We have few 24th century markers to answer this (indeed, Captain Picard was evasive when asked the price of the Sovereign-class Combat Enhanced Explorer U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC 1701-E)[7]).  However, in TOS "Mirror, Mirror," Captain Kirk asks, "How can you run a 50 million credit starship like it was a pirate vessel."  The starship he was referring to was a precise mirror of the Constitution-class U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC 1701).  Commander Montgomery Scott said that U.S.S. Enterprise’s (NCC 1701’s) mass was “nearly a million tons.”[8]  For the sake of comparison, I will assume that “nearly a million tons” means in excess of 800,000 but less than or equal to 999,999.999 tons[9].  From this information, we can derive a rough cost:mass ratio between 50:1 and 62.5:1[10].  This estimate will be used as a mean ratio of cost to mass for the UFP’s military starships.  A cost to mass ratio this low is very unusual; the aircraft carrier (converted battlecruiser) U.S.S. Lexington (CV 2, ex-CC 1) launched in 1925 cost $63,000 per ton (1996 dollars), while U.S.S. Nimitz (CVN 68) launched in 1975 cost $46,000 per ton[11] (also 1996 dollars), a decrease in overall cost of 29%.  U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), an enhanced Nimitz-class CVN commissioned in 1983, cost the same as the class leader U.S.S. Nimitz but massed 10,000 tons heavier (105,000 tons vs. 95,000), with a corresponding savings in cost per ton.

Therefore, the total 2364 annual Gross Domestic Product of the UFP can be said to be between:

2.4E13 and 3.0E13 (24-30 trillion) FY2364 UFP credits.

To compare, the national gross domestic product of the 2001 United States was some several trillion (that is to say < 1E13) FY2001 US dollars.

This concludes the first part of my study on the UFP.

CREDITS:

Phong Nguyen for correcting my erroneous figure regarding the US gross domestic product for 2001.

A mysterious, cloaked figure calling himself “DasBastard,” for pointing out the cost to mass ratio of the aircraft carriers Lexington and Nimitz.

[1] Star Trek: First Contact

[2] Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Metamorphosis”

[3] Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual mentions USS Galaxy as NX 70637, an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine confirms Galaxy’s NCC number as NCC 70637.  Galaxy, Yamato and Enterprise were all commissioned in 2364.

[4] On his website, “Daystrom Institute Technical Library” (http://www.ditl.org), Graham Kennedy postulates that the UFP starfleet may consist of as many as 70,000 starships, based on the existence of NCC numbers that high.  While this is certainly a possibility, the simple fact is that advancing technology and hull wear will limit the operational lifespan of a major ship to just over half a century at the most.  While many of the designs commonly used by Starfleet are over a century old, there is little evidence to suggest that the hulls of said ships are actually that old.

[5] Rick Berman has said that the Federation Starfleet consists of 8,000 to 12,000 ships; previous estimates had suggested a Starfleet of no more than 4,000.

[6] U.S.S. Voyager NCC 74656 is such a vessel.

[7] Star Trek: First Contact

[8] As of this writing, I have not ascertained the source of this quote.

[9] The only quoted mass of USS Enterprise NCC 1701 that I had been aware of until after the first writing of this document was the 190,000 ton figure quoted in Franz Joseph Designs’ Star Fleet Technical Manual.

[10] In the original version of this document, using the 190,000 ton figure, the ratio was some 265:1, producing a somewhat more favorable economic estimate for the UFP.

[11] Federation of American Scientists, http://www.fas.org/

[12] TOS: “Space Seed”

[13] Star Trek: First Contact

[14] ENT: “Broken Bow”

[15] Conjecture

[16] Conjecture again

[17] VOY Hope and Fear establishes that the first Federation ship to be given an NCC number was USS Dauntless.

[18] TNG Yesterday’s Enterprise

[19] Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual