The thing is, they don't mine asteroids with pickaxes. They aren't up there brecause mining requires it, they are mining because existing up there requires the

The thing is, they don't mine asteroids with pickaxes. They aren't up there brecause mining requires it, they are mining because existing up there requires the trade from mining and they aren't allowed to exists anywhere else. Perhaps the numbers are a little exaggerated, but you don't need many to make a space habitat appear hopelessly crowded. Take the inhabitants of Wyoming, coop them up on the existing fleet of cruise ships and see how crowded it will get. (a quick glance at Wikipedia numbers suggests that they will fit, but it won't be nice)