According to the empirical rule, approximately what percentage of data falls within two standard deviations in a normally distributed population?

The empirical rule, commonly known as the 68-95-99.7 rule, provides a quick way to understand the spread of data in a normal distribution. According to this rule, about 68% of the data falls within one standard deviation from the mean, approximately 95% is contained within two standard deviations, and about 99.7% is within three standard deviations.

In this case, by specifying two standard deviations, the correct answer indicates that nearly 95% of the data points in a normally distributed dataset will lie within that range. This reinforces the concept of how spread out the data is and illustrates the concentration of values around the mean in a normal distribution, helping to understand the variability of data in many fields such as statistics, quality control, and various applications in research.