Demography: Here is the crux of the demographic problem for the Book of Mormon. If we assume, as has been traditional, that there were no “others” in the land, this statement makes it very difficult to understand the population dynamics of the Lamanites and Nephites. The most traditional interpretation shows Lehi’s original colony splitting into two; one group unites with a second set of refugees from Jerusalem. On the Nephite side of the equation, half of the original Lehites would become a minority among a larger population of Mulekites, while the Lamanites would be greater than twice the number of the Nephites and Mulekites together. Thus, the original Lamanite population would have to have a birth and survival rate probably four times higher than that of the Nephites to even come close to making these numbers work.
Complicating this picture even more is the Nephite description of the Lamanites (particularly in early periods) as uncivilized hunter-gatherers. Yet the hunter-gatherer lifestyle cannot sustain large populations. Large populations virtually require agricultural settlements to cultivate, harvest, and store sufficient food. People who rely on hunting and gathering tend to exist in small bands, not large cities. The traditional picture is simply impossible. We must factor in those “others” who were in the New World before the arrival of the Lehites and Mulekites and discount the ethnocentric Nephite portrayal of the Lamanite lifestyle.