Population Composition and Change Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The sex ratio of Haryana in the 2011 Census was 879 females per thousand males, which lies in the range 850 - 900.

Haryana had one of the lowest sex ratios of all states, well below the all-India figure of 943.

The bands 901 - 950, 951 - 1000 and above 1000 are all higher than the figure recorded for the state. Only Kerala and Puducherry had ratios above 1000 in that census.

Answer: C

Among the states listed, Kerala had the highest female literacy rate in the 2011 Census, about 92 per cent.

Mizoram followed with about 89 per cent, Goa with about 82 per cent and Delhi with about 81 per cent.

Mizoram is a close second, but its figure is lower than Kerala's, and the state has also been among the leading ones on total literacy. Goa and Delhi are lower again, so none of them is the highest.

Answer: D

The sex ratio of Kerala in the 2011 Census was 1,084 females per thousand males, so it is in the category above 1001.

Kerala has been the only large state with a ratio above 1,000 at every census since the early twentieth century, mainly because of its better female health and education and its pattern of male emigration.

The three other bands (850 - 900, 901 - 950 and 951 - 1,000) are all below the actual figure.

Answer: A

In ascending order of density in 2011 the states are Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal and Bihar.

The 2011 Census gave Uttar Pradesh about 829 persons per square km, Kerala 859, West Bengal 1,029 and Bihar 1,106.

The other orders put Bihar, with the highest density, or Kerala, which is above Uttar Pradesh, in the wrong place. West Bengal is just below Bihar, so it comes second to last.

Answer: C

The key gives the codes (iv), (iii), (i), (ii) (option C). The survival rate compares the population aged x + n at time t + n with the population aged x at time t, which is the fourth ratio. The child woman ratio is the number of children under five divided by the number of women aged 15 to 49, the third ratio. The dependency ratio is the population under 15 plus the population aged 60 and over, divided by the population aged 15 to 59, the first ratio. The sex ratio compares the numbers of males and females, the second. Options A, B and D give these four measures other ratios.

Answer: A

The distribution of population in India is peripheral to the peninsular plateau: the densest areas are the northern plains and the coastal regions around the plateau, while the interior of the plateau is thinly settled.

The distribution is therefore not uniform, nor scattered evenly over the country, and it is not concentrated mainly in cities, since most of the people still live in rural areas.

The Ganga plain, the Brahmaputra valley and the coastal strips have the highest densities because of fertile soil and water, while the arid west and the hilly north east and the central plateau have fewer people.

Answer: A

Both statements are correct and the reason explains the assertion. The proportion of the elderly (aged 60 and above) in the world is increasing, and this is because of the general improvement in living conditions, health care and nutrition, which has lengthened life.

Fall in fertility also adds to ageing, but the improvement in living conditions is accepted in the key as the explanation of the rise.

Answer: D

The theory of demographic transition is associated with Notestein, who set out the stages of the transition from high to low birth and death rates in the 1940s, after earlier descriptions by Thompson and Landry. The key accepts Notestein.

Zelinsky is associated with the mobility transition, which is a separate theory of migration. Thompson and Landry gave early forms of the idea but the full theory is credited to Notestein in the key.

Answer: A

The order of literacy in 2011 from higher to lower is Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Assam, so the first option is correct. Mizoram had about 91 percent, Nagaland about 80, Meghalaya about 75 and Assam about 73. The other codes put Assam or Meghalaya out of place. Literacy rates fall in the order given here when the 2011 figures are compared across the four States. The order of literacy is therefore the one in the key.

Answer: C

In ascending order of density in 2011, the order is Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh and NCT of Delhi, so the third option is correct. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands had a very low density, about 46 per sq km, Dadra and Nagar Haveli a few hundred, Chandigarh over nine thousand and Delhi over eleven thousand. The density of the Union Territories ranges widely because of the small area of cities and the large area of islands. The other orders place Delhi or Chandigarh earlier, which is wrong as they are the densest.