Bevolkings

Bevolkings is a Dutch bound form used as a prefix to indicate that a noun or adjective relates to populations. It is derived from bevolking (population) and serves to create population-related terms in fields such as demography, public health, and urban planning. It is not used as a standalone noun in standard Dutch; the base word is bevolking, with bevolkings- attaching to other stems to form compounds.

Common examples include bevolkingsgroei (population growth), bevolkingsdichtheid (population density), bevolkingspiramide (population pyramid), bevolkingsonderzoek (population screening), bevolkingsstatistieken (population statistics), and bevolkingsbeleid (population policy). These terms describe aspects that concern the size, structure, distribution, or health of a population rather than individual people.

Bevolkingen, without the hyphen or prefix, is the plural noun meaning populations (as in multiple groups of people). The distinction between bevolkingen and the prefix bevolkings lies in grammatical function: the former is a noun, the latter a derivational element used to form new population-related terms. In practice, the bevolkings prefix is common in official statistics, research, and policy language to denote measures or concepts at the population level.

Related concepts include bevolking (the population as a whole), demografie (demography), and demographic statistics. The term has cognates in other Germanic languages and is widely used in Dutch-language literature dealing with population size, structure, and dynamics.