A quintile is a statistical value of a data set that represents 20% of a given population, so the first quintile represents the lowest fifth of the data (1% to 20%); the second quintile represents the second fifth (21% to 40%) and so on. Quintiles are used to create cut-off points for a given population; a government-sponsored socio-economic study may use quintiles to determine the maximum wealth a family could possess in order to belong to the lowest quintile of society. This cut-off point can then be used as a prerequisite for a family to receive a special government subsidy aimed to help society's less fortunate.