CLAT: Mock Test (New Pattern) - 13 - CLAT MCQ
30 Questions MCQ Test Additional Study Material for CLAT - CLAT: Mock Test (New Pattern) - 13
Read the given passage and answer the question that follows.
According to neo-Malthusians, population problem (as it presently exists in underdeveloped countries) is an inevitable result of the reproductive behaviour of man. The theory of Demographic Transition, however, rejects this view and asserts that the population explosion implying a sudden spurt in the rate of population growth is a transitory phenomenon that occurs in the second stage of demographic transition due to a rapid fall in the mortality rate without a corresponding fall in the birth rate. According to the Theory of Demographic Transition, every country passes through three stages of demographic transition. These stages are empirically verifiable.
In the first stage, both birth and death rates are high. Hence the population remains more or less stable. Even if there is some increase in the population because birth rate is somewhat higher than death rate, it does not pose any serious problem. Generally in backward economies where agriculture is the main occupation of the people, per capita incomes are low. This inevitably results in a low level of standard of living. Mass of the population in these countries is deprived of even the basic necessities of life.
The second stage of demographic transition is characterised by rapid growth of population. With the beginning of the process of development, the living standards of the people improve, the education expands medical and health facilities increase and governments make special efforts to check small pox, malaria, cholera, plague etc. These developments generally bring down the death rate. But as long as society remains primarily agrarian and the education remains confined to a narrow section of the society, attitude of the people towards the size of family does not change radically and the birth rate remains high. In this situation population increases at an alarming rate. In the second stage of demographic transition, the birth rate generally stays around 35 to 40 per thousand, whereas the death rate comes down to roughly 15 per thousand. Consequently population increases at an annual rate of about 2 per cent or more. In a country where economy has not grown adequately for a long time and a sizable section of the population has remained below the poverty line, this is really a grave situation. Economists call it population explosion.
In the third stage of demographic transition the birth rate declines significantly and thus the rate of population growth remains low. A country can hope to overcome the problem of population explosion if the process of industrialisation accompanied by urbanisation is fast and education becomes widespread. Only in this situation birth rate shows a tendency to fall.
Q.&n
In the first stage, both birth and death rates are high. Hence the population remains more or less stable. Even if there is some increase in the population because birth rate is somewhat higher than death rate, it does not pose any serious problem. Generally in backward economies where agriculture is the main occupation of the people, per capita incomes are low. This inevitably results in a low level of standard of living. Mass of the population in these countries is deprived of even the basic necessities of life.
The second stage of demographic transition is characterised by rapid growth of population. With the beginning of the process of development, the living standards of the people improve, the education expands medical and health facilities increase and governments make special efforts to check small pox, malaria, cholera, plague etc. These developments generally bring down the death rate. But as long as society remains primarily agrarian and the education remains confined to a narrow section of the society, attitude of the people towards the size of family does not change radically and the birth rate remains high. In this situation population increases at an alarming rate. In the second stage of demographic transition, the birth rate generally stays around 35 to 40 per thousand, whereas the death rate comes down to roughly 15 per thousand. Consequently population increases at an annual rate of about 2 per cent or more. In a country where economy has not grown adequately for a long time and a sizable section of the population has remained below the poverty line, this is really a grave situation. Economists call it population explosion.
In the third stage of demographic transition the birth rate declines significantly and thus the rate of population growth remains low. A country can hope to overcome the problem of population explosion if the process of industrialisation accompanied by urbanisation is fast and education becomes widespread. Only in this situation birth rate shows a tendency to fall.