What is eugenics?

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Eugenics is the selection of desired heritable characteristics in order to improve future generations, typically in reference to humans. The term eugenics was coined in the 1880s. It failed as a science in the first half of the 20th century, particularly after Nazi Germany used eugenics to support the extermination of those it considered “socially inferior.”