Question

Read the given passage and answer the question.

Demographic Transition Theory The first stage has high fertility and high mortality because people reproduce more to compensate for the deaths due to epidemics and variable food supply. The population growth is slow and most of the people are engaged in agriculture, where large families are an asset. Life expectancy is low; people are mostly illiterate and have low levels of technology. Two hundred years ago, all the countries of the world were in this stage. Fertility remains high in the beginning of the second stage but it declines with time. This is accompanied by a reduced mortality rate. Improvements in sanitation and health conditions lead to a decline in mortality. Because of this gap, the net addition to population is high. In the last stage, both fertility and mortality decline considerably. The population is either stable or grows slowly. The population becomes urbanised, literate and has high technical know-how and deliberately controls the family size. This shows that human beings are extremely flexible and are able to adjust their fertility.

In which of the following stage/stages, the natural growth of population was/were almost stagnant?

Options

• Only I

• Only II

• Only I and Last

• Only II and Last

Answer 1

Only II and Last

Explanation:

Fertility and mortality rates are high during the initial stage of demographic transition, resulting in a low rate of natural increase or nearly stationary population growth. People reproduce more to compensate for high mortality rates, but the high death rate balances the high birth rate, resulting in a moderate population increase.