STDEV.P Function in Excel: Standard Deviation of a Whole Population

STDEV.P Function in Excel: Standard Deviation of a Whole Population featured illustration

📎 This article includes 1 downloadable practice file ↓

⏱ 2 min readUpdated 28 September 2026

StatisticsLevel: ExpertAvailable in: Excel 2010+

In this article
  1. Syntax
  2. Examples
  3. Example 1
  4. STDEV.P in practice
  5. Where you will use it
  6. Worked example
  7. Mistakes people make
  8. Related functions
  9. Continue learning

STDEV.P measures spread when your data is the entire group, not a sample. The P version divides by n instead of n−1, so it comes out a little smaller than STDEV.S.

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Syntax

=STDEV.P(number1, [number2], ...)
Argument What it means
number1… The full population.

Examples

Example 1

=STDEV.P(B2:B13)

Spread of all 12 monthly sales figures for the year.

💡 Not sure which one? If waiting longer or asking more people would give you more rows, it is a sample: use STDEV.S.

STDEV.P in practice

Where you will use it

  • Spread of a complete population
  • All branches' sales
  • Process variation

Worked example

Rows usedFormulaResult
3=ROUND(STDEV.P(INDEX({120,135,128,160,95,140,132},SEQUENCE(A2))),3)6.128
5=ROUND(STDEV.P(INDEX({120,135,128,160,95,140,132},SEQUENCE(A3))),3)21.096
7=ROUND(STDEV.P(INDEX({120,135,128,160,95,140,132},SEQUENCE(A4))),3)18.354

Results calculated in Excel.

Mistakes people make

MistakeWhat to do instead
Sample dataUse STDEV.S
TextIgnored

STDEV.S · VAR.S · AVERAGE

📚 Part of the free Excel course: Beginner → Expert · Try it in the Formula Lab or ask the AI Helper.

⚡ Interactive Practice Lab & Formula Tester:

Test formulas dynamically in our web formula laboratory or download the companion Excel workbook.

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📎 Practice files for this article

  • 📗
    Practice workbook: Statistics advanced33 tasks on realistic sales data — type your formula, the Check column turns green when it is right. Answers sheet included.
    ⬇ XLSX · 36 KB

Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.

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