A demographic profile is a form of demographic analysis in which information is gathered about a group to better understand the group's composition or behaviors for the purpose of providing more relevant services.
In business, a demographic profile is usually used to increase marketing efficiency. This is done by using gathered data to determine how to advertise products or services to specific audiences and identify gaps in marketing strategy. By focusing on a specific audience, a company can more efficiently spend advertising resources to maximize sales. This tactic is more direct than simply advertising on the basis that everyone is a potential consumer; while this may be true, it does not capitalize on the increased returns that more focused marketing can generate.
Traditional demographic profiling involves gathering information on large groups of people in order to identify common trends, such as changes in population size or composition over time. These trends can be identified by analyzing data gained through surveys, censuses, in-store purchase information, records, registries, and so on.
A comprehensive demographic profile is a powerful tool for marketing. Detailed information about potential customers provides insight into how to best sell them a product.
Methods
Historically, a census has been the most important tool when it comes to tracking demographic data such as population, births, deaths, and relationship status. The United States census was first introduced in 1790 and has been taken every 10 years since under constitutional law. While the questions in the US Census vary each decade, its aim is to quantifiable measure characteristics about the residents within its borders, such as marital status, age, sex, race, education status, employment status, and location. Even though the US Census is the most relied-on tool for collecting this information, it still has its flaws, such as overcount and undercount, which have caused controversy in previous years.
Metadata provides a modern method of constructing demographic profiles. Certain types of digital metadata are generated by a user's online behavior—such as which websites are frequently visited, the amount of time spent on each website, the website interactions or purchase history, and which other users were interacted with—and serve as a digital footprint. Metadata collection is so pervasive that businesses record most aspects of a user's online activity.
World demographic profile (2017)
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! !! 2017
|-
| World Population || 7,405,107,650 (July 2017)
|-
| 10 Most Populated Countries (In Millions) || China: 1379.3
India: 1281.93
United States: 326.6
Indonesia: 260.58
Brazil: 207.35
Pakistan: 204.92
Nigeria: 190.63
Bangladesh: 157.83
Russia: 142.26
Japan: 126.45
|-
| Age Structure || 0–14 years: 25.44% (male 963,981,944/female 898,974,458)
15–24 years: 16.16% (male 611,311,930/female 572,229,547)
25–54 years: 41.12% (male 1,522,999,578/female 1,488,011,505)
55–64 years: 8.6% (male 307,262,939/female 322,668,546)
65 years and over: 8.68% (male 283,540,918/female 352,206,092)
|-
| Dependency Ratio || total dependency ratio: 52.5
youth dependency ratio: 39.9
elderly dependency ratio: 12.6
potential support ratio: 7.9
|-
| Median age || total: 30.4 years
male: 29.6 years
female: 31.1 years
|-
| Birth rate || 4.3 births every second
|-
| Death rate || 1.8 deaths every second
|-
| Maternal mortality || 216 deaths/100,000 live births
|-
| Sex ratio || at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
0–14 years: 1.07 male(s)/female
15–24 years: 1.07 male(s)/female
25–54 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
55–64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.81 male(s)/female
total population: 1.02 male(s)/female
|-
| Life Expectancy || total population: 69 years
male: 67 years
female: 71.1 years
|-
| Total Fertility Rate || 2.42 children born/woman
|-
| Languages|| Mandarin Chinese: 12.2%
Spanish: 5.8%
English: 4.6%
Arabic: 3.6%
Hindi: 3.6%
Portuguese: 2.8%
Bengali: 2.6%
Russian: 2.3%
Japanese: 1.7%
- Percentages for "first language" speakers only; the six UN languages – Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Russian, and Spanish which are mother tongues for approximately half of the world's population. They are also the official languages in over half the countries in the world with more than a million first-language speakers.
- There are an estimated 7,000 languages spoken in the world and about 80% of the languages are spoken by >100,000 people and approximately 130 of those languages are spoken by >10 people.
- There is an estimated amount of 2,300 languages spoken in Asia, 2,140 in Africa, 1,310 in the Pacific, 1,060 in the Americas, and 290 in Europe.
|-
| Religions || Christian: 31.4%
Muslim: 23.2%
Hindu: 15%
Buddhist: 7.1%
folk religions: 5.9%
Jewish: 0.2%
other: 0.8%
unaffiliated: 16.4%
|}
Source: CIA World Factbook
Demographic profiles of top 3 most populated countries
United States
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! The United States || 2017
|-
| Population || 326,625,791
|-
| Age Structure || 0–14 years: 18.73% (male 31,255,995 per female 29,919,938)
15–24 years: 13.27% (male 22,213,952 per female 21,137,826)
25–54 years: 39.45% (male 64,528,673 per female 64,334,499)
55–64 years: 12.91% (male 20,357,880 per female 21,821,976)
65 years and over: 15.63% (male 22,678,235 per female 28,376,817)
|-
| Dependency Ratios || total dependency ratio: 51.2
youth dependency ratio: 29
elderly dependency ratio: 22.1
potential support ratio: 4.5
|-
| Population Growth Rate || 0.81%
|-
| Birth Rate || 12.5 births per 1,000 people
|-
| Death Rate || 8.2 deaths per 1,000 people
|-
| Net Migration|| 3.9 migrant(s) per 1,000 people
|-
| Sex Ratio || 0–14 years: 1.04 male(s) per female
15–24 years: 1.05 male(s) per female
25–54 years: 1 male(s) per female
55–64 years: 0.93 male(s) per female
65 years and over: 0.79 male(s) per female
total population: 0.97 male(s) per female
|-
| Infant Mortality || total: 5.8 deaths per 1,000 live births
male: 6.3 deaths per 1,000 live births
female: 5.3 deaths per 1,000 live births
|-
| Ethnic Groups || White: 72.4%
Black: 12.6%
Asian: 4.8%
Amerindian and Alaska native: 0.9%
Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander: 0.2%
Other: 6.2%
'Two or more races: 2.9%
|-
| Maternal Mortality || 14 deaths per 100,000 live births
|-
| Education Expenditure || 4.9% of GDP
|-
| Languages || English: 79%
Spanish: 13%
other Indo-European: 3.7%
Asian and Pacific island: 3.4%
Other: 1%
|-
| Religions || Protestant: 46.5%
Roman Catholic: 20.8%
Jewish: 1.9%
Mormon: 1.6%
other Christian: 0.9%
Muslim: 0.9%
Jehovah's Witness: 0.8%
Buddhist: 0.7%
Hindu: 0.7%:
other: 1.8%
unaffiliated: 22.8%
don't know/refused: 0.6%
|-
| Total Fertility Rate || 1.87 children born per woman
|-
| Life Expectancy at Birth || total population: 80 years
male: 77.7 years
female: 82.2 years
|}
Source: CIA World Factbook