Who Is “The Average Person?”

“The average person” is a term often flaunted around statistics, yet no one really knows who this “person” is. Without getting into bare-bones semantics, “The average person” is everyone-as-a-collective. They are afraid, well-meaning, and hedonistic, just like *everybody else (*everybody, as in, everyone-as-a-collective). Got it? Yes? Good. Now let’s get into bare-bones semantics.

“The” isn’t much use here, but the word “average” yields a more specific definition. “Average,” statistically, can mean two things: sample mean 𝑥 (long x) and population mean 𝜇 (mu). From there, it only gets more abstract. I’ll try to retain as much of the original specificity for our final definition, but I can’t make any promises. Just how chaotic can “person” be anyway? Let’s explore that. We’ve made it through “The Average,” which in-so-far means the extremely specific 𝑥 and 𝜇. Now for “Person.”

Ah, people. The only force in nature capable of making 2 + 2 = 5. Einstein noted this peculiar phenomenon with the observation, “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity — and I do not know about the former.” I wouldn’t go so far as to call us stupid, but ignorant will do for now. We all have ignorance woven into our daily lives, whether it’s bias, racism, or contempt — we are all ignorant sometimes.

Finally, we have the cast to our show “The Average Person.” This person is the average — sometimes 𝑥, sometimes 𝜇, depending on context. Notice how “the average person” is multi-dimensional, just like you; they can be two things at once. They have hopes and dreams. They want to be more than just a number (see, told you it would get abstract). They are, oddly enough, both male and female, kind of like Schrödinger’s box — you don’t know until you look.

Statistically speaking, the average U.S. person is 51% female, says the 2017 U.S. Census Bureau (this is where that everyone-as-a-collective synonym comes in handy). The average person is religious (33% Christian, 24.1% Muslim). “Average” is an adjective which applies generalities to the whole. People are generally religious. People are generally female. People generally have hopes and dreams. The general public is, in effect, “The average person”; they are synonymous.

It also works the other way. About one in five U.S. adults suffer from a mental illness (44.7 million in 2016, according to the NIMH). Minority is not “The average person.” This means “The average person” is not mentally ill, therefore, they are mentally stable. Notice how the statistic is for adults only. There are limits to ‘who’ this term applies that we won’t be able to get to in this article. Just know that “The average person” cannot apply to children, yet.

It’s also the case that 9.9 percent of people are in “fair or poor health” (on a scale of “excellent”, “very good”, “good”, “fair”, or “poor”). This means “The average person” (our remaining 90.1%) is in good or better health. The average U.S. person lives to be 78.6 years old.

Wait. What was that, just now: “The average U.S. person??” It seems there are different types of “The average person.” You might be thinking, ‘it’s gone too far, the world just can’t make up its mind!’ And you’re right. The world can’t. It’s a giant ball of molten rock. It has no mind. Now, let’s focus on the fact that there are different variants of “The average person.”

As you know, there is “The average U.S. person.” This means there is an average person for all other countries as well, featuring iconic symbols like “The average Chinese person,” “The average Japanese person,” “The average Mexican person…” and so on and so on. Every which way we look, “The average X person” each has their own peculiarities and statistical averages. At last, we’ve gathered enough material to make our final definition. This is being done without going into terms like “the layman / layperson,” “everyone,” or “everybody.” Those already have well-known definitions, and don’t need further explaining. That said:

The Average Person | ði ˈævərɪʤ ˈpɜrsən | noun 1. everyone-as-a-collective. 2. people considered in a general sense, especially for statistical purposes; The average person is religious.

In order to avoid politicians and statisticians from being misled or misleading others, it is imperative to get a grasp on who exactly “The average person” is and is not. Otherwise, the consequences could be devastating. Perhaps the average person is more one way than an authority figure has lead you to believe. Perhaps the average person voted for somebody other than that same figure would have you believe. Don’t allow yourself to be manipulated. Please educate yourself, fight misinformation, and hey — do something nice for yourself today. You earned it.