population in WordNet English dictionary

1. the act of populating (causing to live in a place)
   "he deplored the population of colonies with convicted criminals"
   population 
   
2. (statistics) the entire aggregation of items from which samples can be drawn
   "it is an estimate of the mean of the population"
   population  universe 
   
3. the people who inhabit a territory or state
   "the population seemed to be well fed and clothed"
   population 
   
4. a group of organisms of the same species inhabiting a given area
   "they hired hunters to keep down the deer population"
   population 
   
5. the number of inhabitants (either the total number or the number of a particular race or class) in a given place (country or city etc.)
   "people come and go, but the population of this town has remained approximately constant for the past decade"; "the African-American population of Salt Lake City has been increasing"
   population