Since sampling is almost always done to estimate population parameters that are unknown, by definition exact measurement of the sampling errors will not be possible; however they can often be estimated, either by general methods such as bootstrapping, or by specific methods incorporating some assumptions (or guesses) regarding the true population distribution and parameters thereof.
In reality, obtaining an unbiased sample can be difficult as many parameters (in this example, country, age, gender, and so on) may strongly bias the estimator and it must be ensured that none of these factors play a part in the selection process.
Even in a perfect non-biased sample, the sample error will still exist due to the remaining statistical component; consider that measuring only two or three individuals and taking the average would produce a wildly varying result each time.
As discussed, a sample statistic, such as an average or percentage, will generally be subject to sample-to-sample variation.
The term "sampling error" has also been used in a related but fundamentally different sense in the field of genetics; for example in the bottleneck effect or founder effect, when natural disasters or migrations dramatically reduce the size of a population, resulting in a smaller population that may or may not fairly represent the original one.