I'll be honest, I don't think that's the reason. I also think those numbers may be different but they may both be indistinguishable from zero when plotted against natural languages. You're right about it being hard to define what counts as a "Esperanto speaker". I can't decide if that makes the Python comparison better or worse, though.

[–] Wiz@midwest.social 2 points 1 month ago

Yeah, I do not think Python is a very good comparison.

I was thinking more like Clojure:

Enthusiastic and friendly geeks trying to push their language on the world trying to make it a better place. They are both definitely not a little cultish!
Language intended to be simple to learn with a limited and regular vocabulary, but can handle complicated work with ease.
They both say that learning their language will make your mind better able to do other languages.
A bridge between languages. Vanilla Clojure runs on the JVM and can invoke Java commands. But it has also been built on other platforms like JavaScript (ClojureScript), .NET (CLR), Python (Basilisp), BASH (Babashka), and others I think.
The parts of both languages can be broken up, mixed, and matched, and used for other parts. In Esperanto, the fundamental elements can be broken down and made into other words. In Clojure, you've got functions and lists - and higher order functions that work on functions and lists, and lists of functions, and functions of lists.
Did I mention: Friendly & welcoming geeks that lo-o-o-ove newbies! Seriously, both Clojure nerds and Esperanto nerds are unnaturally nice and would like to welcome you to the club. They've got tons of free resources for you to learn it.

Honestly, I think both are right. Both are simple languages that expand your way of thinking, and are probably both worth learning, if you're into that sort of thing.