Geodemography is the study of people based on where they live.; it links the sciences of
demography
Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings.
Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as ed ...
, the study of human population dynamics, and
geography, the study of the locational and spatial variation of both physical and human phenomena on Earth, along with
sociology.
It includes the application of geodemographic classifications for business, social research and public policy but has a parallel history in academic research seeking to understand the processes by which settlements (notably, cities) evolve and neighborhoods are formed.
Geodemographic systems estimate the most probable characteristics of people based on the pooled profile of all people living in a small area near a particular address.
Origins
The origins of geodemographics are often identified as
Charles Booth and his studies of deprivation and poverty in early twentieth century
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, and the
Chicago School of sociology. Booth developed the idea of 'classifying neighborhoods', exemplified by his multivariate classification of the 1891 UK Census data to create a generalized social index of London's (then) registration districts. Research at the Chicago School – though generally qualitative in nature – strengthened the idea that such classifications could be meaningful by developing the idea of 'natural areas' within cities: conceived as geographical units with populations of broadly homogenous social-economic and cultural characteristics.
The idea that census outputs could serve to identify and to characterize the geographies of cities gathered momentum with the increased availability of national census data and the computational ability to look for patterns in such data. Of particular importance to the emerging geodemographic industry was the development of clustering techniques to group statistically similar neighborhoods into classes on a 'like with like' basis. More recently, data have become available at finer geographical resolutions (such as postal units), often originating from private commercial (i.e. non-governmental) sources.
Commercial geodemographics emerged from the late 1970s with the launch of PRIZM by Claritas in the US and
Acorn by
CACI
CACI International Inc. (originally California Analysis Center, Inc., then Consolidated Analysis Center, Inc.) is an American multinational professional services and information technology company headquartered in Northern Virginia. CACI prov ...
in the UK. Geodemography has been used to target consumer services to 'ideal' populations based on their lifestyle and location. These parameters have been taken from geographical databases as well as from electoral lists and credit agencies. Combining these builds a picture of the population characteristics in different locations. The ''geodemographic'' data that this provides can then be used by marketers to target information towards those that they want to influence. This can be in the form of sales, services, or even political information. At heart, geodemographics is just a structured method of making sense of complex socio-economic datasets.
In the UK
In 2005 the
Office for National Statistics (ONS) in collaboration with Dan Vickers and
Phil Rees of the University of Leeds, released a free small scale social area classification of the UK based on 2001 UK small area census data. Similar classifications had been developed for earlier censuses, notably by
Stan Openshaw
Stan Openshaw (10 August, 1946 – 19 May, 2022) was a British geographer. His last post was professor of human geography based in the School of Geography at the University of Leeds. After eighteen years at Newcastle University, including ...
and colleagues at Newcastle and Leeds Universities, but access to these generally was restricted to the academic communities.
The 2005 Output Area Classification (OAC) and the 2013 release of
Acorn in the UK is a move to 'open geodemographics' and reflects a concern that applications of commercial geodemographics in policy and social research can otherwise be 'black box'. It is not always clear exactly what variables were used to classify small areas and to define their neighbourhood type, how those variables were weighted, or how similar (or otherwise) each of the neighbourhoods within a class type actually are. Open geodemographics provides such information (because it is not constrained by commercial interests) and is an important development for applied social research that also seeks to understand and to explain the roots causes or processes that generate aggregate spatial patterns of social behaviour and attitudes. The Output Area Classification is now supported by a user grou
here CACI have also released detailed documentation on how their classification utilizes Open Dat
here
Geodemographic profiles have widened their application in the UK. Many UK life insurance companies and pension funds using them to assess longevity for pricing and reserving.
In Australia
In
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
, general purpose geodemographic systems summarises a broad range of profiling data, largely derived from the
Australian Census
The Census in Australia, officially the Census of Population and Housing, is the national census in Australia that occurs every five years. The census collects key demographic, social and economic data from all people in Australia on census ni ...
to create a thumbnail sketch of the type of people living in a particular small area. These small areas are either CCD (Census Collection District) or a sub-CD area, like a Meshblock.
The types of characteristics mainly taken into account in geodemographic system construction are:
*
Age distribution;
*
Socioeconomic status indicators like income, education, and occupational status;
*Household and family composition;
*Cultural factors, such as ethnicity, language spoken, country of birth, and (but not limited to) religion;
*Employment factors, such as type of job, type of industry, and hours of work;
*Household economic factors, like indebtedness, investments, and poverty;
*Consumer behavior, like household expenditures;
*Regional factors (e.g. whether the resided area is classified as
metropolitan
Metropolitan may refer to:
* Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories
* Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England
* Metropolitan county, a typ ...
, provincial, or sparsely settled), and;
*Residential stability.
In 1987, geodemographic systems were first introduced as social analysis tools with CCN's (later
Experian) introduction of the MOSAIC system. In 1990, RDA Research built their first system, geoSmart.
Criticisms
Geodemographics has drawn critical attention. Some focus on the possible discriminatory and intrusive effects of geodemographic practices. Others wonder whether members of geodemographic groups really are sufficiently alike to be analysed together. The generally unknown variance within geodemographic groupings makes it difficult to assess the significance of trends found in data.
This may not matter for commercial and service planning applications but is of some concern for public sector and social research. Others wonder if geography is the best way to group people together, e.g. if there is a retirement home next to a student residence, geography alone will not give the right answers. A way forward is to integrate geodemographics with more statistical frameworks of analysis, for example, using multilevel methods.
Commercial demography systems
* PRIZM by Claritas
CanaCode Lifestyle Clustersby
Manifold Data Mining
*CAMEO by Callcredit
* Censation by AFD Software
*
Acorn by CACI
*
OAC by ONS/University of Leeds
*
CLOUD CLIENT by
Cloud Client Ltd
*
C-Australia by
Pathfinder Solutions
*
C-New Zealand by
Pathfinder Solutions
*
C-Japan by
Pathfinder Solutions
*
Mosaic by
Experian
*
MicroVision by NDS/Equifax
*
Crucible by
Tesco
geoSmartby RDA Research
* HomeTypes and ZoneTypes by Arvato Services (Bertlsmann)
* P
2 People & Places by Beacon Dodsworth
NuMapsDemographicDrapes
See also
*
Demography
Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings.
Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as ed ...
*
Geodemographic segmentation
In marketing, geodemographic segmentation is a multivariate statistical classification technique for discovering whether the individuals of a population fall into different groups by making quantitative comparisons of multiple characteristics with ...
References
External links
Acorn micro siteCensation postcode level classification system distributed free with all AFD Software UK name and address validation solutionsCloud Client – Free online tool for geodemographic mapping, segmentation and output. Covers England and Wales onlyOutput Area Classification User GroupNational Statistics 2001 Area ClassificationGeodemographics Knowledge BaseAmerican Marketing Association definition of geodemographyDemographic mapping and reporting for the UKClaritas Geodemography HistoryHealth Geodemographics: Southwark Atlas of HealthgeoSmart – RDA ResearchMarket Research Society of the UK Geodemographics Knowledge BaseInternet-based neighbourhood information systems and their consequencesMarket Research Society of the UK Geodemographics Knowledge BaseSmartCity : Geodemography, Onomastics and Megacities
{{Authority control
Interdisciplinary subfields of sociology
Market segmentation
Demography
Human geography