demography
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of demography
Explanation
Do you know the population growth rate of your city? The education levels of everyone on your block? Then you're a fan of demography, the branch of sociology that studies human behavior by analyzing statistical information. The word demography comes from two ancient Greek words, demos, meaning "the people," and graphy, meaning "writing about or recording something" — so literally demography means "writing about the people." Like many branches of the sciences, demography began in the 19th century, when the general craze for cataloging information about the world really took off (think Darwin.) A common related word is demographics, referring to the raw statistical data that's used for analysis.
Vocabulary lists containing demography
Human Geography - Middle School
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Human Geography - High School
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We the People: Dem
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Judged by the aims of the policies, this is clearly a failure," says Tomas Sobotka, from the Vienna Institute of Demography.
From BBC • Jun. 15, 2026
“Africa is entering a period of truly staggering change,” said Edward Paice, the director of the Africa Research Institute in London and the author of “Youthquake: Why African Demography Should Matter to the World.”
From Seattle Times • Oct. 29, 2023
Demography is the statistical study of population changes over time: birth rates, death rates, and life expectancies.
From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022
"We have reached a stage where the working-age population has never been older," said Julien Bérard-Chagnon, senior analyst with Statistics Canada's Centre for Demography.
From Reuters • Apr. 27, 2022
Demology, de-mol′o-jī, n. same as Demography: the theory of the origin and development of nations.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
