CDS (II) 2022 General Knowledge · Question 104 of 120

Correct — B, Between 25 to 30 years. India's median age was around twenty-eight at the time of this paper — the age that splits the population into two halves of equal size, one younger and one older. That is what the stem means by a young country: about two-thirds of Indians, roughly 68 per cent, are in the working-age band of 15 to 64, and the median sits nearer the start of a working life than the end of one. The comparison that makes the number vivid is China, whose median age was 40.2 in 2024 against India's 29.8 in the same year — two countries of comparable size a full decade apart in age structure.

• (a)Less than 25 years — This was true a generation ago — India's median age was about 24 around 2008 — but fertility has fallen sharply since. The total fertility rate was 2.03 in 2020 and 1.9 by 2023, below the replacement level of 2.1, and a population that stops growing quickly starts ageing.
• (c)Between 30 to 35 years — Ahead of the true figure. India will pass thirty in the next few years, but had not reached it either at the 2022 exam or by the most recent estimate of 29.8 for 2024.
• (d)Between 35 to 40 years — This is the range for the United States and much of Europe, not for India. China is already past it at 40.2, and Japan is well beyond that.

Median age is a single number that summarises an age structure: half the population is younger, half older. It matters because of the demographic dividend — the growth that becomes possible when the working-age population, taken as those aged 15 to 64, is large relative to the dependants it has to support. The dividend is a window, not a gift; it lasts only while that ratio is favourable, and it converts into growth only if the workers are healthy, educated and employed.

This is a band question, so precision matters less than knowing which side of thirty India sits on. Anchor it to a comparison rather than to a bare figure — India in the high twenties, China at forty, Japan near fifty. Also watch the direction of travel, because the answer to this exact question will change: 29.8 in 2024 is still inside the paper's 25-to-30 band but close to its upper edge, and with the fertility rate below replacement India will cross into the next band later this decade. A candidate answering the same stem in 2030 should expect option (c) to be right. That is a useful habit generally — for any statistic in a band, know both the value and which way it is moving.

• India's median age was about 28 to 29 years around the 2022 exam and approximately 29.8 in 2024.
• China's median age was 40.2 in 2024 — more than a decade older than India's.
• About 68 per cent of Indians are in the 15 to 64 working-age band, according to the UNFPA.
• India's total fertility rate has fallen from 2.03 in 2020 to about 1.9 by 2023, below the replacement level of 2.1.
• A demographic dividend is a window created by a large working-age share, not an automatic outcome.

• Confusing median age with mean age or with life expectancy — three different numbers.
• Treating the dividend as automatic; it needs education, health and jobs to be realised.
• Assuming India's median age is static — it is rising steadily and will leave this band.

As a band question on the median age, as a country-ordering question, or as a reasoning question on what creates a demographic dividend.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The demographic dividend of a country arises principally from a high share of population in which age group?

  • (a)Below 15 years
  • (b)15 to 64 years
  • (c)Above 65 years
  • (d)Above 45 years

  Answer(b) 15 to 64 years — the working-age band; a large share here lowers the dependency ratio and creates the window for faster growth.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The replacement level of the total fertility rate is generally taken to be about

  • (a)1.5
  • (b)1.8
  • (c)2.1
  • (d)3.0

  Answer(c) 2.1 — the level at which a generation exactly replaces itself; India's total fertility rate has fallen below it.