Population and Settlement Geography Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The largest and most dominating city of a State in commercial, industrial, educational and political activities is a primate city, a term of Mark Jefferson in his law of the primate city. A city region is the area of influence around a city, 'urbanfield' is not a standard term and necropolis means city of the dead. The answer is Primate city.

Answer: C

In Burgess's concentric zone model the sequence outward from the centre is the Central Business District, then the zone in transition, then the zone of workers' homes, the zone of better residences and finally the commuters' zone. Among the options, the sequence of Central Business District, zone of workers' homes, zone of better residences and commuters' zone is correct, option C, since the others place the better residences before the workers' homes or the commuters before better residences.

Answer: B

Urbanisation is the stage in which certain settlements grow at the cost of the surrounding countryside (i), suburbanisation is the stage in which the commuter belt grows at the cost of the urban core (ii), disurbanisation is when the population loss of the core exceeds the gain of the commuter belt (iv), and reurbanisation is when the rate of loss of the core tapers off or the core starts regaining population (iii). The codes are (i) (ii) (iv) (iii), option B. Option A swaps the last two stages.

Answer: D

All three statements about the consequences of migration are correct: migration changes the population-resource relationship of both the source and destination areas, migrants from rural areas to urban industrial areas often suffer from a lack of open space, fresh air and good housing, and their dietary habits also change in the new areas. Since each is correct, the answer is 'all of the above', option D.

Answer: A

The law of the primate city, proposed by Mark Jefferson, is most relevant to countries with a relatively simple economy and spatial structure, where one city dominates all others. In countries with a complex, integrated and matured economy the urban population is spread among many cities so the primate city does not dominate in the same way. The answer is A. Where many cities have developed with a complex economy, there is a wide range of services and a more balanced urban hierarchy, so the single big city is less dominant.

Answer: D

The correct choice is that 1 and 2 are correct. The demographic transition model describes the shift of a population from high fertility and high mortality to low fertility and low mortality, and traces fertility, mortality and, as a result, the changes in age structure and migration that go with it, as the official key accepts.

The option stating that 1 and 4, or 3 and 4, are correct pairs statements that the key does not accept. Taking 1 alone as correct leaves out mortality, which is the first change in the model, so it is incomplete. The key keeps the answer as 1 and 2.

Answer: A

India's decadal population growth rate has fallen continuously since 1971-81. The rate was about 24.66 per cent in 1971-81, 23.87 per cent in 1981-91, 21.54 per cent in 1991-2001 and 17.64 per cent in 2001-2011, so every later decade is lower than the one before it.

The decades 1981-91, 1991-2001 and 2001-2011 are wrong because the decline had already started earlier. The rate rose in the decades before 1971-81, up to the 1961-71 decade when the figure was high.

Answer: C

The Assertion is correct that urbanization is a defining phenomenon of this century, with developing countries the focus of the change. The Reason, however, is false, because the urban shift is credited to the growth of cities and migration in developing countries in general, not mainly to mega cities, so the official key takes (A) as correct and (R) as false.

The options saying (R) explains (A), or that (R) is correct but does not explain it, accept the Reason as true. The option saying (A) is false rejects a correct statement.

Answer: C

Migration from a developed region to a less developed region goes against the usual flow of people towards richer areas, and is called perverse migration. Emigration and immigration describe leaving or entering a country from the point of view of each side and say nothing about the level of development. Reverse migration means the return movement of people to the place from which they came, so it does not describe a flow towards a less developed area.

Answer: B

Both statements are correct. Physical factors such as relief, climate and soil give only a partial and deterministic account of how people are distributed, and human beings are active and not passive in selecting places to settle, with the power to control the environment to some extent. The official key treats the reason as a related remark and not the full explanation of the assertion, so it chooses code B. A reviewer may judge that (R) does explain (A); the answer follows the key.