in the late 18th century, the first statistical estimates of commonwealth population appeared. aleksander busching estimated the number of commonwealth population for 8.5 million; józef wybicki in 1777 for 5,391,364; stanisław staszic in 1785 for 6 million; and fryderyk moszyński in 1789 for 7,354,620. modern estimates tend to be higher; by 1770, on the eve of the partitions, commonwealth had a population of about 11m-14m, about 10% of that - jewish. the nobility constituted about 10%, the burghers, about 7-8%.