population

noun

• The people living within a political or geographical boundary.

  "The population of New Jersey will not stand for this!"

• (by extension) The people with a given characteristic.

  "India has the third-largest population of English-speakers in the world."

• A count of the number of residents within a political or geographical boundary such as a town, a nation or the world.

  "The town’s population is only 243."

• A collection of organisms of a particular species, sharing a particular characteristic of interest, most often that of living in a given area.

  "A seasonal migration annually changes the populations in two or more biotopes drastically, many twice in opposite senses."

• A group of units (persons, objects, or other items) enumerated in a census or from which a sample is drawn.
• The act of filling initially empty items in a collection.

  "John clicked the Search button and waited for the population of the list to complete."