NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Geography - Population Composition in Geography

Population Composition

1. Choose the right answer from the four alternatives given below.

(i) Which one of the following has caused the sex ratio of United Arab Emirates to be low?
1. Selective migration of male working population
2. High birth rate of males
3. Low birth rate of females
4. High outmigration of females
Ans. (1) Selective migration of male working population

(ii) Which one of the following figures represents the working age group of the
population?
1. 15 to 65 years
2. 15 to 64 years
3. 15 to 66 years
4. 15 to 59 years
Ans. (4) 15 to 59 years

(iii) Which one of the following questions in about 30 words.
1. Latvia
2. United Arab Emirates
3. Japan
4. France
Ans. (1) Latvia

2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words.
(i) What do you understand by population composition?
Ans. The term 'population composition' refers to the distinguishing attributes of population of a country such as occupation, education, life-expectancy, age, sex, place or residence, etc.Population composition is the description of a population according to characteristics such as age and sex. These data are often compared over time using population pyramids. The main elements of population composition are age, sex and ethnicity.

(ii) What is the significance of age structure?
Ans. Age structure represents the number of people of different age groups

1. This is an important indicator of population composition, since a large size of population in the age group of 15-59 indicates a large working population.

2. A greater proportion of population above 60 yearsrepresents an ageing population which requires more expenditure on health care facilities.

3. Similarly high proportion of young population would mean that the region has a high birth rate and the population is youthful.

4. Age structure reflects the demographic and socio-economic history of a population over a period of about a century. Certainly it is the result of various and interrelated factors such as fertility, mortality and migration, which have operated during the lifetime of the oldest inhabitants.

(iii) How is sex ratio measured?
Ans. The ratio between the number of women and men in the population is called the sex ratio.

It is measured in two ways:

Males per thousand females = 

Females per thousand males = 

3. Answer the following question in not more than 150 words.

(i) Describe the rural-urban composition of the population.
Ans. The division between rural and urban areas is significant in terms of geographical distribution of population. The percentage of rural population is higher in farm-based agricultural countries, while industrially, developed regions have higher share of urban population.

For a long time now, there has been a nearly universal flow of population from rural into urban areas. The most highly urbanised societies in the world are these of western and northern Europe, Australia, New Zealand, temperate South America, and North America: in all of these, the proportion of urban population exceeds 75 per cent.

In many of the developing countries of Asia and Africa, the urbanisation process has only recently begun; less than one-third of the population lives in urban areas. But the rate of growth of urban areas has shown a great increase. The general rule for developing countries is that the rate of growth of urban areas is twice that of the population as a whole.

A prominent feature of population redistribution, especially in developing countries, is the growth of major cities. Almost half of the world’s population lives in cities. It is projected that there would be about eight billion city dwellers in the world by 2030, and 80 per cent of them would be living in developing countries.

The rural and urban differences in sex ratio in Canada and West European countries like Finland are just the opposite of those in African and Asian countries like Zimbabwe and Nepal respectively. In Western countries, males outnumber females in rural areas and females outnumber the males in urban areas. In countries like Nepal, Pakistan and India the case is reverse. The excess of females in urban areas of U.S.A., Canada and Europe is the result of influx of females from rural areas to avail of the vast job opportunities. Farming in these developed countries is also highly mechanised and remains largely a male occupation. By contrast the sex ratio in Asian urban areas remains male dominated due to the predominance of male migration. It is also worth noting that in countries like India, female participation in farming activity in rural area is fairly high. Shortage of housing, high cost of living, paucity of job opportunities and lack of security in cities, discourage women to migrate from rural to urban areas.

(ii) Describe the factors responsible for imbalances in the sex-age found in different parts of the world and occupational structure.
Ans. The following factors are responsible for imbalances in the age-sex found ini different parts of the world:

1. Lower sex ratio- In regions where gender discrimination is rampant, the sex ratio is bound to be unfavourable to women. Such areas are those where the practice of female foeticide, female infanticide and domestic violence against women are prevalent.On an average, the world population reflects a sex ratio of 102 males per 100 females. The highest sex ratio in the world has been recorded in Latvia where there are 85 males per 100 females. In contrast, in Qatar there are 311 males per 100 females.In general, Asia has a low sex ratio. Countries like China, India, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan have a lower sex ratio.

2. High male mortality rate- In developed countries male mortality rate is higher than females. In all developed countries , women outlive men, sometimes by a margin of as much as 10 years. In the U.S., life expectancy at birth is about 79 years for women and about 72 years for men. The sex ratio is favourable for females in 139 countries of the world and unfavourable for them in the remaining 72 countries listed by the United Nations.

3. Migration- A deficit of males in the populations of many European countries is attributed to better status of women, and an excessively male-dominated out-migration to different parts of the world in the past. The Persian Gulf cities (Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Manama, Kuwait City, Riyadh) have the world’s largest gender gaps. In 2012, there were 300 men to 100 women in Doha, while the respective figures in Delhi were 115 men to 100 women, this being the highest male to female ratio outside the Persian Gulf. Large-scale immigration of male labourers often unable to bring their families with them has been a major cause of the current gender imbalance in the Persian Gulf cities.

Occupational Structure: The working population (i.e. women and menof the age group – 15 to 59) take part in various occupations ranging from agriculture, forestry,fishing, manufacturing construction,commercial transport, services, communication and other unclassified services. Agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining are classified as primary activities manufacturing as secondary, transport, communication and others services as tertiary and the jobs related to research and developing ideas as Quaternary activities. The proportion of working population engaged in these four sectors is a good indicator of the levels of economic development of a nation. This is because only developed economy with industries and infrastructure can accommodate more workers in the secondary, tertiary and quaternary sector. If the economy is still in the primitive stages, then the proportion of people engaged in primary activities world be high as it involves extraction of natural resources.