demographic

American  

[dem-uh-graf-ik] / ˌdɛm əˈgræf ɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to demography, the science of vital and social statistics.

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noun

• demographics
  plural

1. a single vital or social statistic of a human population, as the number of births or deaths.

2. a specific segment of a population having shared characteristics.

   The producers were looking for a show that would appeal to the 18-34 demographic.

demographic British  

/ ˌdɛməˈɡræfɪk, ˌdiːmə- /

adjective

1. of or relating to demography

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noun

1. a section of the population sharing common characteristics, such as age, sex, class, etc

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• demographical
  adjective
• demographically
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• demographics
  plural

Etymology

Origin of demographic

First recorded in 1880–85; demo- + -graphic

Explanation

Advertising agencies like to schedule their commercials in television shows that appeal to the 18-49 demographic, because this segment of the population has a lot of spending power. Demographic is a word companies use when they're trying to sell their products to a particular group of consumers. A movie studio that wants to promote its new film, "Revenge of the Senior Kitties," might aim for the 65-to-85-year-old cat-lover . A demographic can consist of people who are in the same age group, such as 18-to-29-year-olds, or ethnic group, such as African-Americans.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

demographic demographics

"Jaguar's core demographic, despite the uproar, gave up on the brand years ago, so they effectively had nothing to lose," explains Matthias Schmidt of Schmidt Automotive Research.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

North Carolina Democrats collaborated with Voters of Tomorrow, an entirely Gen Z-led organization seeking to promote political engagement among that demographic, for its national summit in August.

From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026

The demographic was far more likely to use AI compared with other generations, according to researchers at the payroll and human resources platform.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026

Certain demographic questions from the traditional questionnaire would also be eliminated.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026

Criminologists like Wilson and James Alan Fox had badly misread the demographic data.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt

She attributes some of the gender divide to the fact that the two demographics are often presented with different informational realities, though it is difficult to quantify.

From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026

These changes helped bring test scores from the bottom of national rankings to the top in fourth grade math and reading, and even eighth grade math, adjusting for demographics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

The asset class is supported by demographics and a new interest-rate regime, where inflation-protected income is scarce, she said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026

Despite the overall drop, the demographics remained on par with last year in terms of the tournament's target family audience, with 22% of tickets sold to juniors, 40% to families and 28% to female attendees.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

Paul had once told me about how the city’s demographics had changed over the last thirty years, and why that mattered for his job.

From "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds

Related Words

• analytical
• numerical