Mosaic is

Experian Experian is an American–Irish multinational data analytics and consumer credit reporting company. Experian collects and aggregates information on over 1 billion people and businesses including 235 million individual U.S. consumers and more t ...

’s system for geodemographic classification of households. It applies the principles of

geodemography Geodemography is the study of people based on where they live.; it links the sciences of demography, the study of human population dynamics, and geography, the study of the locational and spatial variation of both physical and human phenomena on Ear ...

to consumer household and individual data collated from a number of government and commercial sources. The statistical development of the system was led by professor

Richard Webber Richard Webber, M.D., F.A.C.S is a fictional character from the ABC medical drama television series ''Grey's Anatomy''. The character was created by Shonda Rhimes and is portrayed by actor James Pickens Jr. since the start of the show in 200 ...

in association with Experian in the 1980s and it has been regularly refreshed and reclassified since then, each based on more recent data from national censuses and other sources. Since its initial development in the UK, the Mosaic brand name has also been used to market separate products which classify other national consumers including most of Western Europe, USA, selected Asian regions and Australia. The initial UK version was based at the postcode level, which would cover an average of 20 properties with the same code. More recent versions have been developed at the individual household level and offer more accurate classification based on specific characteristics of each household. The 2009 Mosaic UK version for example classified the UK population into 15 main socio-economic groups and, within this, 67 different types. Professor Webber also developed the competing

ACORN The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'' and '' Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne ...

system with

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 provi ...

. Both Mosaic and Acorn have found application outside their original purpose of direct marketing, including governmental estimates and forecasts and it is regularly employed by life insurance companies and pension funds in the UK to assess longevity for pricing and reserving.Richards, S. J. Applying survival models to pensioner mortality data, British Actuarial Journal
/ref> Both are also used extensively in understanding local service users, although Mosaic’s naming has proved to be controversial leading Experian to introduce Mosaic Public Sector with more politically correct segment names.

Mosaic 2004 Classification Groups and Types

Source - Mosaic Geodemographics Summary
Mosaic classifies the UK into 11 Main Groups and 61 distinct types.
detailed description

References

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External links

* http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1227910,00.html * http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,,1428612,00.html * http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/buying_and_selling/article1390447.ece * http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=181549 * http://education.guardian.co.uk/primaryeducation/story/0,,1719385,00.html * http://www.channel4.com/news/microsites/E/election2005_features/new_feature.html * http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4485507.stm * http://society.guardian.co.uk/e-public/story/0,13927,1420204,00.html Demographics of the United Kingdom Geodemographic databases Geographical databases in the United Kingdom Market research Market segmentation Postcodes in the United Kingdom