Statistical variable

Characteristic of a unit being observed that may assume more than one of a set of values to which a numerical measure or a category from a classification can be assigned (e.g. income, age, weight, etc. and "occupation", "industry", "disease" etc.).

The term "variable" is meant here in the mathematical sense, i.e. a quantity which may take any one of specified set of values. It is convenient to apply the same word to denote non-measurable characteristics, e.g., sex is a variable in this sense since any human individual may take one of two "values", male or female. It is useful, but far from being the general practice, to distinguish between a variable as so defined and a random variable (The International Statistical Institute, "The Oxford Dictionary of Statistical Terms", edited by Yadolah Dodge, Oxford University Press, 2003).

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