The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (December 2010) Racial demographic map of Houston Texas from the 2000 US census

Demographics or demographic data are the characteristics of a human population. These types of data are used widely in sociology public policy and marketing. Commonly used demographics include gender race age income disabilities mobility (in terms of travel time to work or number of vehicles available) educational attainment home ownership employment status and even location. Demographic trends describe the changes in demographics in a population over time (for example the average age of a population may increase or decrease over time). Both distributions and trends of values within a demographic variable are of interest. Contents 1 Demographic profiles in marketing 2 Generational cohorts 3 Criticisms and qualifications of demographic profiling 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links Demographic profiles in marketing

Marketers typically combine several variables to define a demographic profile. A demographic profile (often shortened to "a demographic") provides enough information about the typical member of this group to create a mental picture of this hypothetical aggregate. For example a marketer might speak of the single female middle-class age 18 to 24 college educated demographic.

Marketing researchers typically have two objectives in this regard: first to determine what segments or subgroups exist in the overall population; and secondly to create a clear and complete picture of the characteristics of a typical member of each of these segments. Once these profiles are constructed they can be used to develop a marketing strategy and marketing plan. The five types of demographics are as follows: marketing are age gender income level race and ethnicity. Generational cohorts The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (December 2010)

A generational cohort has been defined as "the group of individuals (within some population definition) who experience the same event within the same time interval".1 The notion of a group of people bound together by the sharing of the experience of common historical events developed in the early 1920s. Today the concept has found its way into popular culture through well known phrases like "baby boomer" and "Generation X".

The United Kingdom has a series of four national birth cohort studies the first three spaced apart by 12 years: the 1946 National Survey of Health and Development the 1958 National Child Development Study2 the 1970 British Cohort Study3 and the Millennium Cohort Study begun much more recently in 2000. These have followed the lives of samples of people (typically beginning with around 17000 in each study) for many years and are still continuing. As the samples have been drawn in a nationally representative way inferences can be drawn from these studies about the differences between four distinct generations of British people in terms of their health education attitudes childbearing and employment patterns. The last three are run by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies Criticisms and qualifications of demographic profiling

Demographic profiling is essentially an exercise in making generalizations about groups of people. As with all such generalizations many individuals within these groups will not conform to the profile - demographic information is aggregate and probabilistic information about groups not about specific individuals. Critics of demographic profiling argue that such broad-brush generalizations can only offer such limited insight and that their practical usefulness is debatable. However if the conclusions drawn are statistically valid and reproducible these criticisms are not as well founded.

Most demographic information is also culturally based. The generational cohort information above for example applies primarily to North America (and to a lesser extent to Western Europe) and it may be unfruitful to generalize conclusions more widely as different nations face different situations and potential challenges.4 See also Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Demography Demographic economics Demographic transition Demographic dividend Demographic gift Demographic window Demographic trap

Other: Firmographics Consumer behaviour Marketing research Market segment Workforce Planning Social surveys: General Social Survey ALLBUS GSOEP PSID European Social Survey World Values Survey References Ryder N. The cohort as a concept in the study of social change presented at the 1959 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. Power C and Elliott J (2006). "Cohort profile: 1958 British Cohort Study". International Journal of Epidemiology 35 (1): 3441. doi:10.1093/ije/dyi183. PMID 16155052.  Elliott J and Shepherd P (2006). "Cohort profile: 1970 British Birth Cohort (BCS70)". International Journal of Epidemiology 35 (4): 846843. doi:10.1093/ije/dyl174. PMID 16931528.  O'CONNOR DONAL (2009-06-11). "Our health-care system about to go 'boom'". The Beacon Herald (Sun Media). http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/ArticleDisplay.aspxe1608862. Retrieved 2009-06-14.  Further reading Klauke A. (2000) Coping with Changing Demographics An analysis of the effect of changing demographic patterns on school enrollments and education. Meredith G. Schewe C. and Haim A. (2002) Managing by defining moments: Innovative strategies for motivating 5 very different generational cohorts Hungry Minds Inc. New York 2002 ISBN 0-7645-5412-3 Weber Lars 2010: Demographic Change and Economic Growth - Simulation on Growth Models Physica. ISBN 978-3790825893 External links 'Demographics' as a term in Economics U.S. State demographic information v d eDemographics by continent

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