Ask HN: How many active users are on HN nowadays?

You could query the live api:

https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/updates.json?print=pre...

Do this periodically and you can have user activity stats

I've been a user for many years - would love to know how large this awesome and vibrant community is. Is there a way we can estimate it via the API etc?

Also a breakdown by country would be nice. I heard that most aren't in USA, but that's all I know.