linguistic:translation
Statistics and records

According to a 2023 report by the Centre for the International Business of Sport, over ten million people play rugby union or one of its variants organised by the IRB. This is a significant increase since the previous report in 2011. The report also claimed that since 2011 participation has grown by 33 per cent in Africa, 28 per cent in South America and 18 per cent in Asia and North America. In 2023 the IRB published a breakdown of the total number of players worldwide by national unions. It recorded a total of 10.9 million players globally, of those, 8.4 million were registered members playing for a club affiliated to their country's union. The 2016 World Rugby Year in Review reported 8.5 million players, of which 3.2 million were registered union players and 1.9 million were registered club players; 22% of all players were female.

The most capped international player from the tier 1 nations is Welsh captain Alun Wyn Jones who has played over 150 internationals.While the top scoring tier 1 international player is New Zealand's Dan Carter, who has amassed 1442 points during his career. In April 2010 Lithuania which is a second tier rugby nation, broke the record of consecutive international wins for second tier rugby nations. In 2016, the All Blacks of New Zealand set the new record 18 consecutive test wins among tier 1 rugby nations, bettering their previous consecutive run of 17. This record was equalled by England on 11 March 2017 with a win over Scotland at Twickenham. The highest scoring international match between two recognised unions was Hong Kong's 164–13 victory over Singapore on 27 October 1994. While the largest winning margin of 152 points is held by two countries, Japan (a 155–3 win over Chinese Taipei) and Argentina (152–0 over Paraguay) both in 2002.

The record attendance for a rugby union game was set on 15 July 2000 in which New Zealand defeated Australia 39–35 in a Bledisloe Cup game at Stadium Australia in Sydney before 109,874 fans. The record attendance for a match in Europe of 104,000 (at the time a world record) was set on 1 March 1975 when Scotland defeated Wales 12–10 at Murrayfield in Edinburgh during the 1975 Five Nations Championship. This crowd however is an estimate and contemporaneous newspaper accounts list a crowd of 80,000 only. The record attendance for a domestic club match is 99,124, set when Racing 92 defeated Toulon in the 2016 Top 14 final on 24 June at Camp Nou in Barcelona. The match had been moved from its normal site of Stade de France near Paris due to scheduling conflicts with France's hosting of UEFA Euro 2016.