Absolute data
Topic: Geographical Data: Sources, Compilation and Processing · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 1 "Data - Its Source and Compilation"
Meaning
Absolute data are figures kept in their original form, as whole numbers or totals. They have not been turned into percentages, ratios or index numbers. They tell you the actual size of something, such as how many people live in a place or how much of a crop was grown. They are usually the first form data take after being counted. Percentages and index numbers are later worked out from them. Absolute data matter because they show the real scale. But they do not, on their own, allow a fair comparison between places of very different size.
Example
Census 2011 counted India's total population as 1,21,05,69,573. Of these, 62,31,21,843 were males and 58,74,47,730 were females. Uttar Pradesh, a large state in the Ganga plain of northern India, had 19,98,12,341 people. These are absolute figures because they are actual head counts, not shares or rates.
Don't confuse with
- Percentage data: this shows a value out of 100 of a common base. An example is the literacy rate: literates ÷ total population × 100, which was 73.0% for India in 2011. It allows fair comparison between places of different size. Absolute data do not.
- Index number: this shows change compared with a base value set at 100. India's iron-ore output was 32.5 million tonnes in 1970-71 (taken as 100) and 67.4 million tonnes in 2000-01. That gives an index of 207. The tonnes are absolute data, and 207 is the index.