Percentage data
Also called: Ratio data · Topic: Geographical Data: Sources, Compilation and Processing · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 1 "Data - Its Source and Compilation"
Meaning
Percentage data show values out of a hundred of a common base. Turning figures into percentages makes it fair to compare places of very different size. This is because the size of the base no longer matters. For example, literacy rate = number of literates ÷ total population × 100.
Example
India's literacy rate rose from 18.33% in 1951 to 73.0% in 2011. In 2011 it was 80.9% for males and 64.6% for females (Census 2011). A big state and a small state can now be compared directly by their literacy rates.
Don't confuse with
- Absolute data: these are the original whole numbers, such as India's 2011 population of 1,21,05,69,573. Absolute numbers are not fair for comparing places of different size.