Consider the following statements:
- 1.The rate of population growth is increasing in the country
- 2.The death rate is declining faster in the country compared to birth rate
- 3.The birth rate is declining faster in the country compared to death rate
- 4.Rural-urban migration is taking place regularly in the country
Which one of the following conclusions may be true in the light of the above facts?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (d) The rate of population growth is increasing due to faster decline in death rate than in birth rate
The rate of population growth is the birth rate minus the death rate. If growth is rising while both rates fall, the death rate must be falling faster — statements 1 and 2 together give (d). Migration within a country does not change its population.
- Rate of population growth = birth rate − death rate.
- Statement 1: growth is rising, so the gap between the two rates is widening.
- Statement 2: both rates are falling, the death rate faster — this widens the gap.
- Statement 3 would narrow the gap, so it cannot explain rising growth; statement 4 moves people within the country and adds nobody.
- So growth is rising because the death rate is falling faster than the birth rate.
- ✗ (a) Rural-urban migration shifts people inside the country; it does not change the national growth rate.
- ✗ (b) 'Death rate only' ignores the falling birth rate; growth rises because the death rate falls faster than the birth rate.
- ✗ (c) The birth rate is declining, not increasing.
- ✓ (d) With the death rate falling faster, the birth-minus-death gap widens and growth rises.
Remember · Growth rate = birth rate − death rate; internal migration moves people around but never changes a country's total.
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·