Whether you’re hoping to better understand your customers or connect with new readers you want to convert into customers, turning data into a demographic infographic is an ideal way to inform and engage internal and external audiences.
The description may be a mouthful, but inventive approaches to demographic infographic design can help shape marketers’ decision-making or help motivate your readers to take action.
Learn more about demographic infographics and get the inspiration you need to create an engaging visual demographic report with Venngage’s Infographic Maker or pick an infographic template to get started right away.
Want to learn more about other types of infographics? Read our blog on the 9 types of infographics or watch the video below:
Click to jump ahead:
- What is demographic data?
- What is demographic information?
- How do you graph demographics?
- Purchaser demographic infographic
- Buyer persona demographic infographic
- Comparison demographic infographic
- City demographic infographic
- Social media demographic infographic
- Demographic infographics for PowerPoint
- How to present demographic data in research
- Demographic infographic FAQ
What is demographic data?
Demographic data refers to information about the characteristics of a population. Demographic data is used to analyze and describe the composition of a population, and it plays a crucial role in various fields, including sociology, economics, marketing, public health and government planning.
These data are usually collected through surveys, censuses and other research methods to provide insights into the characteristics and trends of a population. Analyzing demographic data is valuable for businesses, governments, researchers and policymakers as it helps them make informed decisions, tailor services and understand the dynamics of a given population.
What is demographic information?
Demographic information allows for in-depth analysis of populations, and many areas fall under this umbrella. The most common types of demographics include:
- Age
- Race and ethnicity
- Sex and gender identity
- Occupation
- Location
- Income
- Marital status
- Education
- Religion
- Family size
- Homeownership
- Health status
Of these, the first three (age, race/ethnicity and sex/gender identity) are the most commonly used in demographic infographics, but all of those areas and more can be helpful in understanding groups of people.
Related: 15 Creative People Infographics and Diverse Person Icons
The origin of “demographics” comes from the Greek word for people (demos), but especially in areas related to business, like the above example, demographic information can also be applied to organizations and customers. This can include things like:
- Industry
- Revenue
- Headquarters
- Number of employees
- Years in operation
- Number of locations
Applying demographics to sets of data is the best way for marketers to generate actionable information they can use to craft their next campaign, and it’s also a popular type of visual content, particularly when it means sharing original data or a new take on existing data.
The data used for your demographic infographic could come from your internal analytics or it could be powered by an original survey created to poll people about a specific topic.
Population statistics tell us that about 328 million people live in the United States. By itself, that information isn’t especially interesting. However, if we explore demographics published by the U.S. Census Bureau, there’s a lot we can learn, as the above demographic infographic illustrates.
In addition to what is revealed in the above template, Census data tells us the following:
- About 22% of Americans are under the age of 18.
- The median age is 38.5 years.
- Nearly 90% of adults over 25 have at least a high school education.
- Fewer than 7% of U.S. adults are military veterans.
- About 14% of people living in the U.S. weren’t born in the country.
How do you graph demographics?
Visualizing the demographic data you’ve collected is simple using Venngage’s Infographic Maker. You can manually input the data or import it from Google Sheets or Excel. Which type of graph or chart is best depends on the information itself.
For example, using our Census data, we can split the U.S. adult population (over 25) into nine segments by educational attainment. These segments vary dramatically in size, and regardless of how large any would be, nine is too many for a pie chart because it’s hard to read.
You can read our blog to learn more about best practices for choosing charts for your data or watch our short guide below, but a good way to learn is to play around with different types of charts and graphs and see which tells the story most effectively.
At times, a single chart, graph or visualization is best, particularly when telling a very focused story, as this example illustrates. It involves just one data point, the age-based demographics of social media users.
At other times, it’s necessary to visualize many demographic segments in one infographic, and good demographic data lends itself well to multiple types of data visualization, such as in the demographic infographic example below.
Purchaser demographic infographic template
Every marketer knows that the more detailed they can make their analysis, the more likely they’ll be to get the budget they need for a successful campaign. The below example is a perfect way to describe and visualize purchaser behavior thanks to the specificity and details included.
Buyer persona demographic infographic template
Getting micro with your data can help you create a buyer persona, which is a semi-theoretical depiction of your ideal customer based on demographic research. This typically includes age, gender, income and education, and usually, the more detailed, the better.
This buyer persona demographic infographic template is filled with demographic information that’s used to weave a backstory that will help team members keep the customer in mind in every decision they make.
Comparison demographic infographic template
Comparison infographics are among the most effective layout options, as they are immediately recognizable to the reader, setting up a head-to-head battle. Demographic information is ideal for this format, as this geographic comparison template illustrates.
City demographic infographic template
National and global demographic data tell us very broad-strokes highlights of a story, but zooming into the local or city level hits home in a way macro data simply can’t do.
Whether for internal or external audiences, city demographic infographics can reveal details about regional populations, as in the example below.
Social media demographic infographic template
Social media channels are crucial for marketers, as these platforms can help generate tons of internal data, and for most marketers, social channels are among their most effective methods of reaching readers.
In some cases, social media demographic infographics can appeal equally to internal and external audiences, as this example illustrates:
Social media demographics are crucial for any marketer regardless of whether they use infographics for internal or external purposes, but when creating infographics for social media, there are a few best practices to keep in mind, particularly regarding sizing.
Demographic infographic templates for PowerPoint
Translating demographic infographics to PowerPoint is simple with Venngage’s Infographic Maker. Users can create their images specifically for PowerPoint and export the files straight into the tool for things like pitch decks, speeches and other presentations.
Demographic information is a perfect match for PowerPoint, especially for business audiences, including corporate executives, industry peers or even potential investors. Translating demographic information into a PowerPoint presentation is a sure sign that you have a handle on your customers, competitors and brand identity.
How to present demographic data in research
Presenting demographic data in research involves effectively communicating the key characteristics of the study population. Here are some guidelines on how to present demographic data:
- Start by identifying and defining the demographic variables that are relevant to your study. Common demographic variables include age, gender, ethnicity, education level, income, marital status and occupation.
- Gather accurate and complete demographic information from your study participants. Ensure that your data collection methods are reliable and that you have obtained consent to collect this information.
- Clean the data by checking for errors, missing values or outliers. Organize the data in a format that is suitable for analysis and presentation. Use appropriate statistical measures to summarize the data, such as mean, median, mode and standard deviation for numerical variables.
- Create descriptive statistics for each demographic variable. This might include frequency distributions, percentages and summary statistics. For categorical variables, you can create bar charts or pie charts to visually represent the distribution.
- If your study involves multiple groups or subgroups, conduct subgroup analyses to explore variations in demographics. For example, compare demographic characteristics across different age groups or between different study locations.
- Present the demographic data in tables and graphs to make it visually accessible. Tables can be used to show detailed numerical information, while graphs (e.g., bar charts, pie charts) can provide a quick visual overview of the distribution of demographic variables.
- Include a brief discussion or interpretation of the demographic data. Consider how the demographic characteristics may influence your research findings or contribute to a better understanding of your study population.
- When presenting demographic data, ensure that individual participants remain anonymous. Avoid including any personally identifiable information in your presentation to protect participant privacy.
- Be aware of potential biases in your sample and consider how these biases may impact the generalizability of your findings. If applicable, discuss any limitations related to the representativeness of your sample.
- Lastly, Incorporate relevant demographic information into the results section of your research paper or presentation. Additionally, discuss the implications of demographic findings in the discussion section, especially if they have relevance to the interpretation of your study results.
Remember that the presentation of demographic data should align with the overall goals and objectives of your research study. The goal is to make the information easily accessible, understandable, and relevant to your research questions and findings.
Demographic infographic FAQ
Do you have more questions about demographic infographics? We can help.
1. How do I come up with demographic infographic ideas?
Often, demographic comparisons themselves can serve as topic ideas for a demographic infographic and in those cases, whether to include certain demographic information will be obvious. For example, if you’re creating a buyer persona demographic infographic, it’s clear that age and gender will be two important demographic distinctions to make.
However, there are times when you won’t there’s a story until you dive into the data. Depending on the size of your data set, you can use Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel to create pivot tables that let you analyze your data in detail, assuming your data is in a spreadsheet format.
Another way of doing this is sorting your data by columns and either counting manually or using the built-in functions of your spreadsheet program, but that’s much less efficient than using pivot tables.
2. How can I visualize population?
Population can be visualized through a variety of charts, graphs, maps, tables and icons, and the ideal method depends on the data itself. At times, it’s necessary to use a mix of visualizations if you’re dealing with complex population demographics or very large numbers.
Pie charts, maps, line charts, icons, bar charts and more can all help you visualize population.
3. How do I make an infographic for age demographics?
Age is among the most frequently used demographic slices in data analysis, but there are many ways of thinking about and visualizing age demographics in infographic design.
One way to make an infographic for age demographics is by using a pie or donut chart to reveal how people’s ages are split in a single population group. When the number of age ranges is high, a bar chart may be more appropriate.
Age demographics are also useful in creating generational comparison infographics where two or more generational groups are compared across a range of categories.
4. Where can I find demographic infographic data?
If you don’t have demographic information on hand, such as survey data or information about your customers, clients or users, or you’re looking for demographic information about populations in general, there are many free resources. Here’s a look at some of our favorites:
- U.S. Census Bureau
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Pew Research Center
- World Bank
In summary: Demographics can spark internal learning and super-charge engagement of published visual content
The power of visual content has been well-established, and infographics are among the most effective methods of creating content. In fact, studies have shown that infographics get shared at about three times the rate of any other piece of content.
One big reason for that is that people are drawn to well-designed data that tells a cohesive and engaging story. When that story is powered by demographic data, it can help connect readers in a deep and meaningful way.
If you can create original, interesting findings from demographic data, your infographics will be incredibly authoritative, as they’ll be the only word on the subject.
Automatically import your data directly into Venngage’s Infographic Maker and get to work creating powerful, engaging and thought-provoking demographic infographics today.