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.

Population statistics is the use of statistics to analyze characteristics or changes to a population. It is related to social demography and demography.