what are demographics 
demographics are statistics that describe populations and their characteristics demographic analysis is the study of a population based on factors such as age race and sex demographic data refers to socioeconomic information expressed statistically including employment education income marriage rates birth and death rates and more governments corporations and non government organizations use demographics to learn more about a population s characteristics for many purposes including policy development and economic market research for example a company that sells high end rvs may want to reach people nearing or at retirement age and the percentage of those who can afford their products investopedia paige mclaughlinunderstanding demographicsdemographic analysis is the collection and study of data regarding the general characteristics of specific populations it is frequently used as a business marketing tool to determine the best way to reach customers and assess their behavior segmenting a population by using demographics allows companies to determine the size of a potential market the use of demographics helps determine whether its products and services are being targeted to that company s most influential consumers for example market segments may identify a particular age group such as baby boomers born 1946 1964 or millennials born 1981 1996 with specific buying patterns and characteristics 1the advent of the internet social media predictive algorithms and big data has dramatic implications for collecting and using demographic information modern consumers give out a flood of data sometimes unwittingly collected and tracked through their online and offline lives by myriad apps social media platforms third party data collectors retailers and financial transaction processors combined with the growing field of artificial intelligence this mountain of collected data can be used to predict and target consumer choices and buying preferences with uncanny accuracy based on their demographic characteristics and past behavior types of demographic informationfor corporate marketing goals demographic data is collected to build a customer base profile the common variables gathered in demographic research include age sex income level race employment location homeownership and level of education demographical information makes certain generalizations about groups to identify customers additional demographic factors include gathering data on preferences hobbies lifestyle and more governmental agencies collect data when conducting a national census and may use that demographic data to forecast economic patterns and population growth to better manage resources you can gather demographic information on a large group and then break it down into smaller subsets for deeper dive into your research special considerationsmost large companies conduct demographic research to determine how to market their product or service and best market to the target audience it is valuable to know the current customer and where the potential customer may come from in the future demographic trends are also significant since the size of different demographic groups changes over time due to economic cultural and political circumstances this information helps the company decide how much capital to allocate to production and advertising for example the aging u s population has specific needs that companies want to anticipate each market segment can be analyzed for its consumer spending patterns older demographic groups spend more on healthcare products and pharmaceuticals and communicating with these customers differs from that of their younger counterparts 