In statistics, a population is a complete set of items that share at least one property in common that is the subject of a statistical analysis. For example, the population of German people share a common geographic origin, language, literature, and genetic heritage, among other traits, that distinguish them from people of different nationalities. As another example, the Milky Way galaxy comprises a star population. In contrast, a statistical sample is a subset drawn from the population to represent the population in a statistical analysis. If a sample is chosen properly, characteristics of the entire population that the sample is drawn from can be inferred from corresponding characteristics of the sample.