As its name suggests, global demography is the study of the worldwide population rather than the population of a specific country, region, or city. Global demography is useful because it provides the "big picture" of the entire human population without influence from local economic, cultural, or geographic factors. It provides data about the past, present, and future of human society as a whole. Global demographic statistics can also provide a base for comparison against more specific statistics, providing insight into how the demographics of different places compare not just to one another, but to the global average.