What's a census?
Have you ever wondered how many people live in your town? To know that, we need demographics: the study of the size, composition, distribution and growth of a population.
All the people who live in a certain area. It can be big, like the population of Spain (more than 48 million people), or small, like the population of your class.
An official count of a population, usually made by the government about every ten years. People answer by post or online, with information like sex, age and job.
What questions does a census answer?
Why is a census useful?
The information is organised in graphs and charts. It helps governments decide where to build public services: schools, hospitals, buses and trains, police stations… If a town has lots of children, it needs more schools!
Demographers also look at economic activity. Working people have a job. Non-working adults could work but do not have a job now. Dependent people are under 16 or 65 and over: children and retired people, who other people help to support.