småfördelning

Småfördelning is a Swedish term used across several disciplines to describe a distribution pattern where small values or small categories are predominant. It is not a fixed mathematical distribution by itself, but a descriptive label for data that cluster toward the lower end of the scale or into a limited set of small categories.

In statistics, småfördelning characterizes data with many observations near zero or at low values, often resulting in left-skewness or floor effects. Such patterns can arise from censoring, measurement limits, or phenomena that inherently produce small values, such as initial adoption rates, low financial expenditures, or small-scale holdings. Analysts may respond with data transformations, nonparametric methods, or distributional fits that accommodate asymmetry (for example gamma or log-normal models). When counts include many zeros, approaches like zero-inflated models or Tobit models may be appropriate.

In applied contexts, småfördelning is used to describe distributions of small-scale economic activity, household expenditures with frequent non-purchases, or ecological measurements where most observations are near zero. The concept highlights the need for suitable modeling choices and careful interpretation of central tendency and tail behavior.

Because it is a descriptive rather than a single formal distribution, fördelningen is discussed differently across fields, and terminology may vary. See also topics such as skewness, left-censoring, zero-inflation, and nonparametric density estimation.