Descriptive and Inferential statistics

BASIS FOR COMPARISON	DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS	INFERENTIAL STATISTICS
Meaning	Descriptive Statistics is that branch of statistics which is concerned with describing the population under study.	Inferential Statistics is a type of statistics, that focuses on drawing conclusions about the population, on the basis of sample analysis and observation.
What it does?	Organize, analyze and present data in a meaningful way.	Compares, test and predicts data.
Form of final Result	Charts, Graphs and Tables	Probability
Usage	To describe a situation.	To explain the chances of occurrence of an event.
Function	It explains the data, which is already known, to summarize sample.	It attempts to reach the conclusion to learn about the population, that extends beyond the data available.

The difference between descriptive and inferential statistics can be drawn clearly on the following grounds:

Descriptive Statistics is a discipline which is concerned with describing the population under study. Inferential Statistics is a type of statistics; that focuses on drawing conclusions about the population, on the basis of sample analysis and observation.
Descriptive Statistics collects, organises, analyzes and presents data in a meaningful way. On the contrary, Inferential Statistics, compares data, test hypothesis and make predictions of the future outcomes.
There is a diagrammatic or tabular representation of final result in descriptive statistics whereas the final result is displayed in the form of probability.
Descriptive statistics describes a situation while inferential statistics explains the likelihood of the occurrence of an event.
Descriptive statistics explains the data, which is already known, to summarise sample. Conversely, inferential statistics attempts to reach the conclusion to learn about the population; that extends beyond the data available.