leptokurtic distribution

statistics

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July 21, 2026

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In statistics, kurtosis measures how much a variable's distribution is found in the tails. A leptokurtic distribution is one with wide tails and positive kurtosis. This means it is more concentrated about the mean than a normal distribution.12

The term "leptokurtic" comes from Greek words meaning "bulging" or "convex". While sometimes mistaken for measuring "peakedness," kurtosis primarily focuses on the tails of a distribution. A leptokurtic distribution has more extreme values in its tails compared to a normal distribution.12

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kurtosis
Leptokurtic distributions are variable distributions with wide tails and have positive kurtosis. In contrast, platykurtic distributions have narrow tails and thus have negative kurtosis, whereas mesokurtic distributions (such as the normal distribution) have a kurtosis of zero.
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Leptokurtic distributions are variable distributions with wide tails and have positive kurtosis. In contrast, platykurtic distributions have narrow tails and thus have negative kurtosis, whereas mesokurtic distributions (such as the normal distribution) have a kurtosis of zero.
Read More