Demographics or demographic data are the characteristics of a human Humans are a species of animal known taxonomically as Homo sapiens , and are the only extant member of the Homo genus of bipedal primates in Hominidae, the great ape family. However, in some cases "human" is used to refer to any member of the genus Homo population A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define the population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals from other areas. Normally breeding is substantially more as used in government, marketing Marketing is the process by which companies create customer interest in products or services. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business development. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves or opinion research, or the demographic profiles A demographic or demographic profile is a term used in marketing and broadcasting, to describe a demographic grouping or a market segment. This typically involves age bands , social class bands (as the rich may want different products than middle and lower classes and may be willing to pay more) and gender (partially because different physical used in such research. Note the distinction from the term "demography Demography is the statistical study of human populations. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space . It encompasses the study of the size, structure and distribution of these populations, and spatial and/or temporal changes in them in response to" (see below.) Commonly used demographics include sex, race The term race or racial group usually refers to the categorization of humans into populations or ancestral groups on the basis of various sets of heritable characteristics. The physical features commonly seen as indicating race are salient visual traits such as skin color, cranial or facial features and hair texture. Conceptions of race, as well, 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. Distributions of values within a demographic variable, and across households, are both of interest, as well as trends over time. Demographics are frequently used in economic Economics is the social science that is concerned with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek οἰκονομία from οἶκος (oikos, "house") + νόμος (nomos, "custom" or "law"), hence "rules of the house(hold)". Current and marketing research Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of data about issues relating to marketing products and services. The term is commonly interchanged with market research; however, expert practitioners may wish to draw a distinction, in that market research is concerned specifically with markets, while marketing research is. It is important to distinguish between demographics and psychographics.

Demographic trends describe the changes in demographics in a population over time. For example, the average age of a population may increase over time. It may decrease as well. Certain restrictions may be set in place changing those numbers. For instance in China with the one child policy.^{[clarification needed][citation needed]}

The term demographics as a noun is often used erroneously in place of demography Demography is the statistical study of human populations. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space . It encompasses the study of the size, structure and distribution of these populations, and spatial and/or temporal changes in them in response to, the study of human population A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define the population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals from other areas. Normally breeding is substantially more, its structure and change. Although there is no absolute delineation, demography focuses on population structure, processes and dynamics, whereas demographics is most often used in the fields of media studies, advertising, marketing, and polling, and should not be used interchangeably with the term "demography" or (more broadly) "population studies".^{[citation needed]}

Demographic profiles in marketing

Marketers typically combine several variables to define a demographic profile A demographic or demographic profile is a term used in marketing and broadcasting, to describe a demographic grouping or a market segment. This typically involves age bands , social class bands (as the rich may want different products than middle and lower classes and may be willing to pay more) and gender (partially because different physical. 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 Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova (egg cells), middle-class The middle class are any class in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class. In Marxist terms, middle class commonly refers to either the bourgeoisie before or during capitalism[, 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 Marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. A marketing strategy should be centered around the key concept that customer satisfaction is the main goal and marketing plan A marketing plan is a written document that details the necessary actions to achieve one or more marketing objectives. It can be for a product or service, a brand, or a product line. Marketing plans cover between one and five years. A marketing plan may be part of an overall business plan. Solid marketing strategy is the foundation of a well-. The five types of demographics in marketing are age, gender, income level, race and ethnicity.

Generational cohorts

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 A baby boomer is a person who was born during the demographic Post-World War II baby boom. The term "baby boomer" is sometimes used in a cultural context, and sometimes used to describe someone who was born during the post-WWII baby boom. Therefore, it is impossible to achieve broad consensus of a precise definition, even within a given" and "Generation X Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the baby boom ended, ranging from 1961 to 1981".

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 Study^[2], the 1970 British Cohort Study^[3], and the Millennium Cohort Study, begun much more recently in 2000. These have followed the lives of samples of people (typically beginning with around 17,000 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

Cohorts in the United States

A study by William Strauss and Neil Howe, in their books Generations and Fourth Turning, looked at generational similarities and differences going back to the 15th century and concluded that over 80 year spans, generations proceed through 4 stages of about 20 years each. The first phase consists of times of relative crisis and the people born during this period were called "artists". The next phase was a "high" period and those born in this period were called "prophets". The next phase was an "awakening period" and people born in this period were called "nomads". The final stage was the "unraveling period" and people born in this period were called "heroes". The most recent "high period" occurred in the 50s and 60s (hence baby boomers are the most recent crop of "prophets").

The most definitive recent study of the US generational cohorts was done by Schuman and Scott (1989) in 1985 in which a broad sample of adults of all ages were asked, "What world events are especially important to you?"^[4] They found that 33 events were mentioned with great frequency. When the ages of the respondents were correlated with the expressed importance rankings, seven distinct cohorts became evident. Today the following descriptors are frequently used for these cohorts:

• Depression cohort (born from 1912 to 1921)
  • Memorable events: The Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s. It was the longest, most widespread, and deepest depression of the 20th century, and is used, high levels of unemployment Unemployment occurs when a person is able and willing to work but currently without work. The prevalence of unemployment is usually measured using the unemployment rate, which is defined as the percentage of those in the labor force who are unemployed. The unemployment rate is also used in economic studies and economic indices such as the United, poverty, lack of creature comforts, financial uncertainty
  • Key characteristics: strive for financial security, risk averse, waste-not-want-not attitude, strive for comfort
• Pre 'World War II Albania · Australia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Burma · Cambodia · Canada · Ceylon (Sri Lanka) · Channel Islands · China · Czechoslovakia · Denmark · Dutch East Indies · Egypt · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland · cohort' (born from 1922 to 1927)
  • Memorable events: men leaving to go to war and many not returning, the personal experience of the war, women working in factories, focus on defeating a common enemy
  • Key characteristics: the nobility of sacrifice for the common good, patriotism, team player
• World War II Albania · Australia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Burma · Cambodia · Canada · Ceylon (Sri Lanka) · Channel Islands · China · Czechoslovakia · Denmark · Dutch East Indies · Egypt · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland · cohort (born from 1928 to 1945)
  • Memorable events: sustained economic growth, social tranquility, The Cold War, McCarthyism McCarthyism is the political action of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term specifically describes activities associated with the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by heightened fears of, drug culture
  • Key characteristics: conformity, conservatism Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and opposes rapid change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism and seek a return to "the way things were." The first established use, traditional family values
• Baby Boomer A baby boomer is a person who was born during the demographic Post-World War II baby boom. The term "baby boomer" is sometimes used in a cultural context, and sometimes used to describe someone who was born during the post-WWII baby boom. Therefore, it is impossible to achieve broad consensus of a precise definition, even within a given cohort #1^{[citation needed]} (born from 1946 to 1954)
  • Memorable events: assassinations Assassinations may be prompted by religious, ideological, political, or military reasons. Additionally, assassins may be motivated by financial gain, revenge, or personal public recognition of JFK John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963, Robert Kennedy Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician. He was a younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and acted as one of his advisers during his presidency. From 1961 to 1964, he was the U.S. Attorney General, and Martin Luther King Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African American civil rights movement. His main legacy is securing progress on civil rights in the United States. Because of this work, he has become a human rights icon. For example, Dr. King is even recognized as a martyr by two Christian churches. A, political unrest, walk on the moon, Vietnam War The Vietnam War [A 2] was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from November 1, 1955 [A 1], to April 30, 1975 when Saigon fell. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between the communist North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the, anti-war protests, social experimentation, sexual freedom, civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. It was accompanied by much civil unrest and popular rebellion. The process was long and tenuous in many countries, and most of these movements did not achieve or fully achieve their objectives. In its later years,, environmental movement, women's movement, protests and riots, experimentation with various intoxicating recreational substances
  • Key characteristics: experimental, individualism, free spirited, social cause oriented
• Boomer cohort #2 - "Generation Jones," born 1955-1965
  • Memorable events: Watergate The Watergate scandal was a political scandal in the United States in the 1970s, resulting from the break-in into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Effects of the scandal ultimately led to the resignation of the United States President Richard Nixon on August 9, 1974. It also, Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States from 1969–1974 and was also the 36th Vice President of the United States (1953–1961). Nixon was the only President to resign the office and also the only person to be elected twice to both the Presidency and the Vice Presidency resigns, the cold war, the oil embargo, raging inflation, Disco, gasoline shortages
  • Key characteristics: less optimistic, pragmatic, general cynicism
• Generation X Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the baby boom ended, ranging from 1961 to 1981 cohort (born from 1965 to 1980)
  • Memorable events: Challenger explosion, Iran-Contra The Iran–Contra affair was a political scandal in the United States that came to light in November 1986. During the Reagan administration, senior U.S. figures, including President Ronald Reagan, agreed to facilitate the sale of arms to Iran, the subject of an arms embargo. At least some U.S. officials also hoped that the arms sales would secure, Reaganomics Reaganomics refers to the economic policies promoted by the U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. The four pillars of Reagan's economic policy were to:, AIDS Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This condition progressively reduces the effectiveness of the immune system and leaves individuals susceptible to opportunistic infections and tumors. HIV is transmitted through direct, Star Wars, MTV, the home computer, safe sex, divorce, single parent families, end of cold war-fall of berlin wall, desert storm
  • Key characteristics: quest for emotional security, independent, informality, entrepreneurial
• Millennial Generation cohort also called Generation Y (born from 1981 to 2001)
  • Memorable events: rise of the internet The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by a broad array of electronic and, September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing, cultural diversity, two wars in Iraq Iraq , officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūrīyat Al-Irāq, Kurdish: كؤماری عه‌راق‎, Komara Îraqê, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܥܸܪܵܩ) is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the, Global financial crisis of 2008–2009
  • Key characteristics: quest for physical security and safety, heightened fears, acceptance of change, technically savvy, environmental issues

U.S. Demographic birth cohorts

The US Census Bureau generally^{[weasel words]}considers the following demographic birth cohorts^{[citation needed]} based on birth rate, which is statistically measurable:

• Classics (born from 1900 to 1920)
  • (the last American cohort in which the population pyramid A population pyramid, also called age-sex pyramid and age structure diagram, is a graphical illustration that shows the distribution of various age groups in a human population , which normally forms the shape of a pyramid takes on the standard "step" form for males and females)
• Baby Bust (I) (born from 1921 to 1945)
  • early cohort (born from 1921 to 1933)
  • late cohort (born from 1934 to 1946)
• Baby Boomers (born from 1946 to 1964)
  • Boomer Cohort #1 (born from 1946 to 1957)
  • Boomer Cohort #2 (born from 1957 to 1964)
• GenX/Baby Bust (II) (born from 1964 to 1976)
• Echo Boomers (born from 1976 to 1994)
  • Leading Edge (born from 1977 to 1990)
  • Trailing Edge (born from 1990 to 1994)

Subdivided groups are present when peak boom years or inverted peak bust years are present, and may be represented by a normal In probability theory and statistics, the normal distribution, or Gaussian distribution, is an absolutely continuous probability distribution with zero cumulants of all orders above two. The graph of the associated probability density function is “bell”-shaped, with peak at the mean, and is known as the Gaussian function or bell curve:[note 1] or inverted bell-shaped curve (rather than a straight curve). The boom subdivided cohorts may be considered as "pre-peak" (including peak year) and "post-peak". The year 1957 was the baby boom peak with 4.3 million births and 122.7 fertility rate. Although post-peak births (such as trailing edge boomers) are in decline, and sometimes referred to as a "bust", there are still a relative large number of births. The dearth-in-birth bust cohorts include those up to the valley birth year, and those including and beyond, leading up to the subsequent normal birth rate.

From the decline in birth rates starting in 1958 and the introduction of the birth control pill in 1960, the Baby Boomer normal distribution curve is negatively skewed In probability theory and statistics, skewness is a measure of the asymmetry of the probability distribution of a real-valued random variable. The skewness value can be positive or negative, or even undefined. Qualitatively, a negative skew indicates that the tail on the left side of probability density function is longer than the right side and. The trend in birth rates from 1958 to 1961 show a tendency to end late in the decade at approximately 1969, thus returning to pre-WWII levels, with 12 years of rising and 12 years of declining birth rates. Pre-war birth rates were defined as anywhere between 1939 and 1941 by demographers such as the Taeuber's, Philip M. Hauser and William Fielding Ogburn. [1] From 1962 to 1964, trend analysis points to 1965 as being the first year to return to baseline birth rates, possibly referring to this cohort as "Generation X".

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.^[5]

See also

• Demographics of present-day nations and states This is a list of Demographics by country articles, including both de jure and de facto independent states, inhabited dependent territories, as well as areas of special sovereignty. The entries are listed below
• Demographic economics Demographic economics or population economics is the application of economics to demography, the study of human populations, including size, growth, density, distribution, and vital statistics. Analysis includes economic determinants and consequences of marriage and fertility, the family, divorce, morbidity and mortality, dependency ratios,
• Demographic transition The Demographic transition used to represent the transition from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as a country develops from a pre-industrial to an industrialized economic system. The theory is based on an interpretation of demographic history developed in 1929 by the American demographer Warren Thompson. Thompson observed
• Demographic dividend
• Demographic gift
• Demographic window
• Demographic trap

Other:

• Firmographics
• Consumer behaviour Consumer behaviour is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy products. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and
• Marketing research Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of data about issues relating to marketing products and services. The term is commonly interchanged with market research; however, expert practitioners may wish to draw a distinction, in that market research is concerned specifically with markets, while marketing research is
• Market segment Market segmentation is a concept in economics and marketing. A market segment is a sub-set of a market made up of people or organizations sharing one or more characteristics that cause them to demand similar product and/or services based on qualities of those products such as price or function. A true market segment meets all of the following
• Workforce Planning
• Social surveys: General Social Survey The General Social Survey is a survey used to collect data on demographic characteristics and attitudes of residents of the United States. The survey is conducted face-to-face with an in-person interview by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, of a randomly-selected sample of adults (over 18) who are not, ALLBUS, GSOEP, PSID, European Social Survey, World Values Survey

References

1. ^ Ryder, N., The cohort as a concept in the study of social change, presented at the 1959 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.
2. ^ Power C and Elliott J (2006). "Cohort profile: 1958 British Cohort Study". International Journal of Epidemiology 35 (1): 34-41. doi:10.1093/ije/dyi183.
3. ^ Elliott J and Shepherd P (2006). "Cohort profile: 1970 British Birth Cohort (BCS70)". International Journal of Epidemiology 35 (4): 846-843. doi:10.1093/ije/dyl174.
4. ^ Schuman, H. and Scott, J. (1989), Generations and collective memories, American Sociological Review, vol. 54, 1989, pp. 359-81.
5. ^ O'CONNOR, DONAL (2009-06-11). "Our health-care system about to go 'boom'". The Beacon Herald (Sun Media). http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1608862. 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

External links

• 'Demographics' as a term in Economics
• U.S. State demographic information

Categories: Demographics | Demography | Consumer behaviour | Market research | Demographic economics

See Also:

• Demographics of Texas: Encyclopedia

What Links Here:

Recently Viewed Pages:

• List of Texas Metropolitan Areas: Blogs
• Home
• Directory Search
• Texas: Encyclopedia
• Census: Encyclopedia
• Fredericksburg, Texas: Encyclopedia
• Fredericksburg, Texas: News
• County Seat: Encyclopedia
• Fredericksburg, Texas: Blogs
• United States: Encyclopedia

Most Popular Pages:

• List of Texas Metropolitan Areas: Blogs
• Regional: North America: United States: Texas: Localities: F: Fredericksburg: Arts and Entertainment: Directory
• Port Arthur, Texas: Answers
• Regional: North America: United States: Texas: Localities: F: Fredericksburg: Arts and Entertainment: Photography: Directory
• Regional: North America: United States: Texas: Localities: F: Fredericksburg: Arts and Entertainment: Museums: Directory
• Hutterite German: Blogs
• Germans of Paraguay: Blogs
• Joseph Funk: News
• Shannon, Quebec
• Regional: North America: United States: Texas: Metro Areas: San Antonio: Arts and Entertainment: Directory

Related 'Demographics' Searches: