Demographic as a noun

Question

Can it be used as a noun - instead of "age group" - in a sentence like this:"With this product, the company is targeting primarily the youngest demographic".Thanks for any advice.qt

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Can it be used as a noun - instead of "age group" - in a sentence like this: "With this product, the company is targeting primarily the youngest demographic". Thanks for any advice.[/nq]
It appears that you can, but why would you want to? In order to be a "team player" in some corporate milieu? I personally feel that this is American "business-memo" English, and that it is just as abominable as e.g. using "leverage" as a verb. I first noticed it during the 1990s.

However, it is often used by marketing people, and appears in online dictionaries:
Encarta Online Dictionary has
demographic (noun)
(marketing) part of population: a part of a population identified as a group, especially as a target for sales or advertising.

Wiktionary has:-
Noun
demographic (plural: demographics)
1. A statistic grouping people by their characteristics.
2. An individual person's characteristic, encoded for the purposesof statistical analysis.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Can it be used as a noun - instead of ... is targeting primarily the youngest demographic". Thanks for any advice.[/nq]
[nq:1]It appears that you can, but why would you want to? In order to be a "team player" in some ... 1. A statistic grouping people by their characteristics. 2. An individual person's characteristic, encoded for the purposes of statistical analysis.[/nq]
As Mike says, you can. It's rarely the best construction, though. A demographic group shares a characteristic quality, or more often, ~~several~~ characteristic, possibly related qualities, such as gender, age, income, education level; or employment, income, home ownership.

While it's been around since long before the 1990's, that's when it escaped from rather restricted usage by sociologists and marketing professionals into the general business vocabulary. With its more widespread use, it also became vaguer and more likely to turn up in places where another word or phrase would be more accurate. In your sample sentence, unless the target market is defined by more than just age, "demographic" could be replaced by "potential customers," "age group," or "users."

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Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Can it be used as a noun - instead of "age group" - in a sentence like this: "With this product, the company is targeting primarily the youngest demographic".[/nq]
Demographers might prefer "cohort."

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]It appears that you can, but why would you want ... individual person's characteristic, encoded for the purposes of statistical analysis.[/nq]
[nq:1]As Mike says, you can. It's rarely the best construction, though. A demographic group shares a characteristic quality, or more ... target market is defined by more than just age, "demographic" could be replaced by "potential customers," "age group," or "users."[/nq]
I very recently heard "demographic" used by the latest winner of the UK TV show "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here". He said that the people who were recognising him in the street and congratulating him were "Not my usual demographic". Previously he had been known mainly to those who were his fans as a pop singer.

Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)

Demographic as a noun

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