how to describe population in statistics
how to describe population in statistics

You can in this article" how to describe population in statistics " and what is population in research

How To Describe Population In Statistics

What is a population? The term ‘population’ refers to the whole group of living things occupying a given area. If you were to take a sample of objects at random from some geographical feature, and see how many of them are similar in size and shape to others in the same location, you can say that this group is part of a ‘population’ or that it has a subgroup within the larger group. We’ll go on to give examples of both. A range of values can also be termed as a population, since our example represents a collection of different sets of data collected and analysed by different researchers who have found it interesting.


What is a country? According to Oxford Dictionary, a country is a unit of international law, territory or government. It may also refer to any portion of land bounded by the boundary of one nation or another to the north and east, forming part of that state or kingdom, such as Greece, India, Italy, France, Germany etc. Now, let’s look at how to define a population. 

A group of people belonging to the same place with common interests and goals is called a population. The size of a particular group depends upon its number and distribution of living beings; therefore, a population whose total size may be 50,000 to 100,000 for example, is considered smaller than a population of 10,000 for example. As we had earlier seen in definition 1, populations can have subgroups within, thus the concept of a population can be divided into the following sub-populations


Small (10-20 people)


Medium (20-30 people)


Large (30-50 people)


Extra Large (50-100 people)


In reality, the smallest subgroups are usually referred to as populations, a subgroup comprising of 50 people is usually smaller than one subgroup containing a maximum of 250 people. So in essence, populations can make up groups whose values are less than 20 people. These small subgroups include communities, villages, villages. They are called micro-populations and exist mostly in isolated districts. For instance, a village located 200 kilometres away from a city is defined as a small village due to the population size of just 50 inhabitants but is considered large sub-populations in terms of the density (number of people per square kilometre or so). Micro-populations are the smallest subgroups of populations (micro-populations can form multiple smaller subgroups for different reasons such as geographical peculiarities, community beliefs, economic reasons) which constitute the next sub-populations.


Small (30-50 people)


Medium (50-60 people)


Large (60-70 people)


Extra-Large (70-100 people)

When speaking about countries, most probably, the first thought might be of their size. But, why is this relevant? Simply put, in cases like Africa, where several national boundaries have been created over centuries, these two subsets may not even be referred to as countries but sub-countries.


When discussing how many sub-populations exist in a country, especially if it is large, then the word ‘population’ comes up as a natural way of describing it. This is because, naturally, a bigger country will contain more sub-populations than smaller ones, although, the larger countries have more small sub-populations.


When taking a closer look at definitions of various types of population, the following three most commonly used phrases come out of the dictionary’s dictionary:


Population – The total number of individuals in an entire population in a particular region or area over which all measures are taken is population in research. 


Subgroup – Group of persons in a population subgroup


Subgroup – An independent entity of population


What is the difference between a sub-group and population? To answer this question, let us use an example of a typical village. When talking about an entire village, it would be difficult to find a specific definition of a subgroup here. However, all villages are usually known for having only one sub group, the farmer community – a group of farmers sharing their land among themselves, or a group of rich agriculturalists who live around the village hall. On the other hand, when speaking about different subdivisions of population, they differ further in the following ways:


Subgroup – A collection of the members of the larger subgroup


Subgroup – One class within a larger class in the form of separate parts, for example family houses


Subgroup – Differently shaped groups, such as communities, villages and societies


Subgroup – Subgroups of smaller groups, for example school houses, police posts and health facilities


Subgroup – Multiple subgroups, for example residential communities


Subgroup – Smaller subgroups, for example mosques


Subgroup – Several subgroups of smaller populations, for example schools, social housing schemes, hospitals, mosques and prisons


Subgroup – Numerous subgroups in one, very small group


Subgroup – Several smaller subgroups, for example mosques and public parks


Subgroup – Many smaller subgroups, for example wards and prisons and police stations.

Most often, smaller subgroups are usually associated with people who belong to certain political parties and live near them, whereas larger subgroups are generally considered to belong to politically powerful people, who belong to the ruling classes. Hence, there is usually a greater distinction between smaller subgroups, larger groups and huge populations.


The above examples help us understand that populations tend towards being higher in the middle, while smaller sub-populations can be located at the outskirts.