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Individual vs Population - What's the difference?

individual | population |

In statistics terms the difference between individual and population

is that individual is an element belonging to a population while population is a group of units (persons, objects, or other items) enumerated in a census or from which a sample is drawn.

As nouns the difference between individual and population

is that individual is a person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people while population is the people living within a political or geographical boundary.

As an adjective individual

is relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one.

individual

English

Alternative forms

* individuall (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people.
  • (legal) A single physical human being as a legal subject, as opposed to a legal person such as a corporation.
  • * 1982 , Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms :
  • Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination […].
  • An object, be it a thing or an agent, as contrasted to a class.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2006, chapter=Identity and Individuality in Quantum Theory, title=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, author=Steven French citation
  • , passage=It is typically held that chairs, trees, rocks, people and many of the so-called ‘everyday’ objects we encounter can be regarded as individuals .}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katrina G. Claw
  • , title= Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual .}}
  • (lb) An element belonging to a population.
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=71, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= End of the peer show , passage=Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.}}
  • Intended for a single person as opposed to more than one person.
  • Synonyms

    * (relating to a single person or thing) (l), (l) * (intended for a single person or thing) (l), (l)

    Antonyms

    * (relating to a single person or thing) (l) * (intended for a single person or thing) (l), (l), (l)

    Statistics

    * ----

    population

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The people living within a political or geographical boundary.
  • By extension, the people with a given characteristic.
  • A count of the number of residents within a political or geographical boundary such as a town, a nation or the world.
  • (biology) A collection of organisms of a particular species, sharing a particular characteristic of interest, most often that of living in a given area.
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
  • , title= Wild Plants to the Rescue , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
  • (statistics) A group of units (persons, objects, or other items) enumerated in a census or from which a sample is drawn.
  • * 1883 , (Francis Galton) et al., Final Report of the Anthropometric Committee , Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, p. 269.
  • it is possible it [the Anglo-Saxon race] might stand second to the Scandinavian countries [in average height] if a fair sample of their population were obtained.
  • (computing) The act of filling initially empty items in a collection.