Ok, granted, but you have to remember that while PC classes can raise as high a level as they want to, most of the populace will stay fairly low. Why? Because they have regular day to day events to take place. Yes, elves do consider themselves above the other races. But they do not war with them just because they think they are better. Elves are in tune with nature and they live for a long period of time. Their very first 100 years is basically learning this concept. This is one of the reasons that they view the world the way they do. You are basically looking at a race based on statistics rather than culture. Dwarves are a more competitive race, but their love for the underground knows no bounds. They have not found such a conflict with humans because the humans do not have the same wanderlust that dwarves do for their caves. As for the Half-Orc, they are shunned by both humans and Orcs.
If you are saying that Orcs are abundant and they will wipe out a human settlement, yes this is true. But Orcs have a great deal of enemies to contend with as well. They do not get along well with the Dwarves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Elves, Humans, or most any other PC type race. They will be hunted because of this. Also, Orcs are normally respectful of a greater power (cowards), they will fall back to a better position rather than give up their lives stupidly. They tend to befriend hill giants or stay in mountainous regions. They do not like the open air as they feel it is a weakness.
You shouldn't view things as, "Why should I play a human?", but moreso, "What race will I better identify with?" I mean, in order to roleplay this character correctly, you will need to know their strengths and weaknesses. You will have to decide if what you get with that will work for you. Everyone has a strength as well as a weakness. By allowing humans to multi-class, the game creators have removed this weakness for the demi-humans strength (no level limits). If you don't like playing a human, then don't. Nobody is forcing you to do so.
For most beginning characters though, playing a human is a more straitforward event. They don't have to try and remember all of the racial limitations and benefits. As they get into the game mechanics, then they can move up to a demi-human. That's why I was saying it's all dependent on how you play. If you number crunch and you are talking about a CRPG, then humans are weaker than their counterpoints. But if you mean in the wide world of PnP role-playing, they are equal to any other of the races.
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