Standard Populations (Millions) for Age-Adjustment

Standard populations, often referred to as standard millions, are the age distributions used as weights to create age-adjusted statistics. Standard population data is distributed through the SEER*Stat software. SEER also provides U.S. Population Data, which can be used for analyses with SEER*Stat or other software.

Starting with the November 2024 SEER submission of data (diagnoses through 2022), the SEER Program uses 20 ages groups for age-adjusting rather than 19, with 85+ split into 85-89 and 90+.

Starting with the November 2004 SEER submission of data (diagnoses through 2002), the SEER Program age-adjusts using the 2000 U.S. standard population based on single years of age from the Census P25-1130 (PDF)¹ series estimates of the 2000 U.S. population. For the 5-year age groups, the single year of age populations are summarized from the five single year of age populations. See 2000 U.S. Standard Population vs. Standard Million for more discussion.

Standard Population Files

The standard population data files contain the following data:

• U.S. Standards (1940, 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000)
• Canadian Standards (1991, 1996, 2011, 2021)
• European (Scandinavian 1960) Standard²
• European (EU-27 plus EFTA 2011-2030) Standard
• World (Segi 1960) Standard²
• World (WHO 2000-2025) Standard²

View the Standard Populations

• Standard Populations - 20 Age Groups (0, 1-4, 5-9, 10-14, ..., 85-89, 90+)
• Standard Populations - 19 Age Groups (0, 1-4, 5-9, 10-14, ..., 85+)
• Standard Populations - Single Ages

¹ Day, Jennifer Cheeseman, Population Projections of the United States by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 1995 to 2050, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, P25-1130, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1996. (View PDF (PDF))

² The labels for these standards were updated on November 1, 2012 to clarify which standards they correspond to, but the data did not change. Documentation for the standards are in the World Health Organization's publication, Discussion Paper 31: Age Standardization of Rates: A New WHO Standard