Majority

In general, a majority is a subset of a group that is more than half of the entire group. A plurality, the subset with the largest number of parts, is not necessarily a majority, as the largest number may be less than half.

For example, in a hypothetical group of 40 athletes there are:

• 15 association football players
• 10 sprinters
• 9 marathon runners
• 6 table tennis players

A majority in this group would consist of one more than half the total number of athletes, or 21 athletes. Football players, 15 in number, comprise a plurality, but not a majority. The group of all ball sport players together (15 football players + 6 table tennis players = 21) comprise a majority, however.

In politics, there are several different kinds of majority:

• simple majority
• supermajority
• absolute majority
• two-thirds majority

Other kinds of majority are

• the age of majority;
• a sociological majority;
• the condition of being a military officer called a major.

See also

• majoritarianism