The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Terminology

What is a cohort? And how does it differ from a register? Here you will find a dictionary of words related to population research. The list will expand continuously - feel free to e-mail words you need to have explained to lupop@ed.lu.se!

Cohort: a closed group of individuals included in a scientific study. Extensive researcher-generated data are often collected for cohorts at enrolment, which are then followed longitudinally with respect to disease or other outcomes.

Population: a group of individuals that is dynamic (open) in the sense it gains and loses members over time, e.g. all inhabitants of a given country or city. In Statistics, the term "target population" is the whole collection of individuals (the “universe”) that is the target for the statistical inference and from which a sample may be drawn.

Register: A digital collection of data typically collected for administrative purposes on individuals for a given population, e.g. all inhabitants of a given country, all individuals that have become ill in a certain disease, all visits to a given hospital.