Which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. Population ageing is the process by which the share of the older population becomes proportionately lesser. 2. In most of the developed countries, the population in higher age groups has increased. Select the correct answer using the code given below:
- (a)1 only
- (b)2 only
- (c)Both 1 and 2
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Correct — B, 2 only. Statement 1 states the definition backwards. Population ageing is the process by which the share of older persons in a population becomes proportionately GREATER, not lesser — that is the whole meaning of the term. Statement 2 is straightforwardly true: in most developed countries the numbers and the share of people in the higher age groups have risen steadily, driven by decades of low fertility and rising life expectancy. Japan, Italy and Germany are the standard examples, each with more than a fifth of the population aged 65 and over.
- (a)1 only — Keeps the inverted definition and discards the true observation. Ageing means the old are becoming a larger share, not a smaller one.
- (c)Both 1 and 2 — The two statements cannot both hold, since they point in opposite directions — statement 1 says the older share shrinks while statement 2 records it growing in the developed world.
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Rejects statement 2, which is one of the best-documented demographic facts of the last half century and the reason pensions and old-age care dominate policy debate in the rich world.
Population ageing is a change in age structure, not merely in longevity. It happens when the proportion of older persons rises, which requires two things working together: fertility falling so that fewer children enter at the base of the age pyramid, and mortality falling at older ages so that more people survive into the upper bands. Falling fertility is usually the stronger driver, which is why ageing can begin long before life expectancy peaks.
Read on the population pyramid, ageing turns a broad-based triangle into a column and eventually into an inverted vase. In the demographic transition model it belongs to the late stationary stage, where both birth and death rates are low. The consequences follow directly: a rising old-age dependency ratio, pressure on pension and health systems, shrinking labour forces and, in several countries, absolute population decline. India is at an earlier point on the same path but moving along it — Census 2011 put the population aged 60 and over at 8.6% of the total, and that share has been climbing since, which is why old-age income security has become a live policy question here too. The inversion in statement 1 is the standard way this concept is tested: examiners take a definition and reverse one word.
- Population ageing means the share of older persons in a population is rising, not falling.
- It is driven mainly by falling fertility, reinforced by falling mortality at older ages.
- Japan, Italy and Germany are among the oldest populations, each with over a fifth of their people aged 65 and above.
- Census 2011 put India's population aged 60 and over at 8.6% of the total.
- In the demographic transition model, ageing populations belong to the late stationary stage where birth and death rates are both low.
One reversed word is the whole question.
- Missing a single reversed word in a definitional statement.
- Assuming ageing is caused only by people living longer, when falling fertility usually matters more.
- Confusing an increase in the absolute number of older people with an increase in their share.
Asked as a two-statement code item in which one statement is a textbook definition with its direction flipped.
India is regarded as a country with “Demographic Dividend”. This is due to
- (a) Its high population in the age group below 15 years
- (b) Its high population in the age group of 15-64 years
- (c) Its high population in the age group above 65 years
- (d) Its high total population
Answer(b) Its high population in the age group of 15-64 years
The other end of the same process. A large working-age share gives a demographic dividend; as fertility keeps falling that share eventually shrinks and the older share grows, which is ageing. The two ideas describe successive phases of one transition.
If you were to browse a table of a recent period showing life expectancy at birth for all categories of rural-urban and male-female divisions for all States of India, you are not likely to observe that 1. Urban life expectancy is higher than the rural one. 2. Male life expectancy is higher than the female one. Select the correct answer using the code given below:
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(b) 2 only
Life expectancy is the other half of the ageing story, and this item catches a common inversion of its own — female life expectancy exceeds male in India, as it does almost everywhere, which is why the older population skews female.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The old-age dependency ratio is the ratio of
- (a)population aged 0-14 to population aged 15-64
- (b)population aged 65 and above to population aged 15-64
- (c)population aged 65 and above to total population
- (d)population aged 15-64 to total population
Answer(b) population aged 65 and above to population aged 15-64 — the older non-working group measured against the working-age group.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Population ageing in a country is most directly indicated by
- (a)a rise in total population
- (b)a rise in the share of population aged 60 and above
- (c)a rise in life expectancy alone
- (d)a fall in the death rate alone
Answer(b) a rise in the share of population aged 60 and above — ageing is a change in age structure, so it is a share, not a total.