When does "the share of" equal "the percentage of"?

Question

So I've found some examples where "the share of" has a similar meaning to "the percentage of".

1.The fracking boom and a more modest clean-energy boom have increased this country’s share of energy production and held down costs worldwide. (source)
2. His share of the vote rose by 15 percentage points among Hispanics. (source)
3. Engel's law' states that as income increases, the share of expenditure on food in total household expenditure tends to decrease. (source)
4. Since 2000, the proportion of the prison population made up of whites and blacks had declined slightly; the share of Hispanics increased. (source)

What do these examples have in common? According to many dictionaries, share is a part of something that has been divided between several people or things. I think this meaning is only related to the 2nd and 3rd examples. In the 1st and 4th examples, I don't think energy production or prison population is shared between anybody or anything.

So, what kinds of nouns can go with "the share of" and create phrases which have a similar meaning to "the percentage of something"?

P.S. I would love it if your answer includes an explanation regarding specifically to example 4. That's the most confusing one out of all. Thank you!

Answer 1

These are both ways of talking about parts of a whole. There are others, like "the fraction of" or "portion of."

As you point out, they can often be swapped for each other without changing the meaning, as long as the point is simply that it is a part of a whole. But be careful as they each have literal meanings, and there could be literal contexts where one is best. For instance, "fraction" and "percentage" have different mathematical meanings. If we said...

This pie has been cut into fourths. Billy takes one piece and Bobby takes the rest. What percentage does Bobby take?

... then a very strict math teacher might not count "3/4" as a correct answer, only "75%."

Similarly, "share" has a connotation that something has been "shared" among people. It's used idiomatically in the phrase "your fair share" (perhaps because it rhymes), and while "Hey, you took more than your fair fraction!" would be understandable, it would be un-idiomatic.

But in the statistical contexts you give, all are essentially interchangeable.

Answer 2

In the context of your sentence 4., "share" is used as a synonym for "proportion".

Note: I can't find a reputable dictionary that gives this definition, so I can only give you my word as a native speaking veteran ESL teacher that I'm confident of the meaning, and that it's correct and natural as used there by the New York Times because it's explicitly used as a synonym to avoid repeating "proportion".

It would be less natural to mean "proportion" in a context where the word hadn't been used yet. You might say it's mildly poetic, which is perhaps why it doesn't appear in dictionaries, even though it is used that way.

Answer 3

'Share' and 'percentage' are not the same thing, even though they could sometimes both be used to describe the same thing.

• A 'share' is an allocated portion of something. It usually indicates ownership or responsibility - something that belongs to a person or people. One's share in something could be measured by a percentage, or by any other means.
• A percentage is one of many ways to indicate a rate or share of something.

Here's a situation where they could mean the same thing. Let's say three children all inherit equal amounts in their parents' will. You could say that they all had an equal share, or that they all received 33.3 percent of the estate. You could also say they all received a third.

But let's say you were comparing the number of elephants and giraffes in a zoo. There are 3 elephants and 4 giraffes. You could express that as a percentage - 42.86% of the animals are elephants, 57.14% are giraffes. But that's not really a "share" of anything. There's nothing to own, nothing to allocate. So that word just doesn't fit the context.

Further, it is possible to have a "share" of something without it being measured. Let's say 4 friends agree to share a large pizza. The slices might be different sizes. There might be some left over. Nobody really keeps tabs on what they eat. You could say they all had a 'share', but there's no way to express that as a percentage.

Also note that shares can be expressed as fractions (a percentage is just a fraction with a denominator of 100) and sometimes as a ratio where there are only two shares.

Answer 4

When does "the share of" equal "the percentage of"?

Any time "share" is being used to describe a part/portion of a "whole" you could probably substitute the word "percentage" and be understood. While the implied meanings are slightly different, the differences in the examples you provided aren't significant enough in typical speech/writing to be an issue. In technical writing this could be an issue though.

The examples you provided use "Share" to mean:

1. a portion belonging to, due to, or contributed by an individual or group
2. a portion belonging to, due to, or contributed by an individual or group
3. a portion belonging to, due to, or contributed by an individual or group
4. a portion belonging to, due to, or contributed by an individual or group

I took the exact definition from Merriam-Webster, but you can interpret "due to" to also cover "attributed to".

"Share" is a very versatile word in English, so not all definitions may be covered. Collins Dictionary makes a little more effort to cover some variations though.