Demographic data

Demographic data describes the population of an area: how many people live there and their age, household structure, income, education and housing. Retail and real estate teams use it for site selection, marketers for media planning, public bodies for service planning, and analysts for market sizing.

Typical fields

• Geographic unit (country, region, postal area, census tract or grid cell)
• Total population and number of households
• Age and sex bands
• Household income or income bands
• Education, employment and occupation
• Housing tenure and dwelling type
• Projections for future years

Sources and collection

The foundation is official census and survey data from national statistics offices. Commercial providers add value by harmonizing definitions across countries, updating figures between censuses with modelled estimates, re-aggregating data to postal codes or custom trade areas, and building projections. Some add lifestyle segmentation that groups areas with similar characteristics.

Delivery and pricing

Demographic data is usually delivered as files joined to boundary data, through spatial databases or via an API. Official data is often free, while commercial datasets are priced by country, geographic granularity, number of variables and whether projections and annual updates are included.

Before you buy

• Check which census year each figure is based on and how it was updated since.
• Confirm the geographic level you need, and whether boundaries match your own.
• Ask how modelled estimates are validated.
• Check that definitions are consistent if you compare countries.
• Look for margins of error or suppression on small areas.