MPSC 2025 Prelims Paper-I · Question 46 of 100

Correct — option (2), 17.5%. As per the 2011 Census, India's population stood at about 1,210.19 million, and against the world population of the time — roughly 6.9 to 7 billion — this worked out to close to 17.5% of the global total. This figure is one of the most widely cited demographic facts about India, usually presented alongside its natural counterpart: India holds about 17.5% of the world's population while occupying only about 2.4% of the world's land area — the same 2.4 figure that appears as option (1) in this very question, planted there because it is the correct answer to a different, closely related question (India's share of world land area) rather than to this one (India's share of world population). The pairing of a large population share with a small land-area share is exactly what is used across Indian geography and economy textbooks to illustrate India's extraordinarily high population density and the pressure this places on land, water and other resources — a 'huge population on a small landmass' framing that makes the population figure worth remembering precisely.

• (1)2.4 — 2.4% is a genuine, well-known statistic about India — but it is India's share of the world's total land area, not its share of world population. It is deliberately placed here because it is the natural companion figure to 17.5%, and the pair (2.4% of world land, 17.5% of world population) is commonly quoted together to illustrate India's population density. Selecting 2.4 answers the wrong half of that pair.
• (3)31.9 — 31.9% does not correspond to India's share of world population by any standard 2011-era estimate; it is well above the correct figure of roughly 17.5%. There is no widely cited demographic statistic that places India's global population share near 32%, so this option does not match any genuine Census-era comparison.
• (4)25.1 — 25.1% overstates India's actual share of world population as of the 2011 Census by a wide margin. India and China together, the world's two most populous countries, made up roughly a third of the global population around 2011, but India alone did not approach a quarter of the world's people — its individual share was close to 17.5%, not 25.1%.

The 2011 Census recorded India's population at 1,210.19 million (about 1.21 billion), making it the world's second most populous country at the time, behind China. Set against the contemporaneous global population of roughly 6.9-7 billion, India's share worked out to approximately 17.5% of all people on Earth. This statistic is almost always paired in Indian geography and economics teaching with India's share of the world's land area, about 2.4%, because the contrast between the two numbers is the standard illustration of India's population pressure: a country holding well under a fortieth of the world's land supporting more than a sixth of the world's people.

MPSC and other Indian competitive exams treat the '17.5% of world population, 2.4% of world land area' pairing as a foundational geography-and-demography fact, and questions frequently test one half of the pair while planting the other half as a tempting but wrong distractor — exactly the structure of this question, where 2.4 (the land-area figure) sits as option (1) to catch anyone who recalls the pairing but not which number answers which half.

• The 2011 Census recorded India's population at 1,210.19 million, making it the world's second most populous country after China.
• India's population as per the 2011 Census worked out to approximately 17.5% of the contemporaneous global population of roughly 6.9-7 billion.
• India's share of the world's total land area is approximately 2.4%, a figure commonly paired with the 17.5% population share to illustrate India's population density and resource pressure.
• India and China together accounted for roughly a third of the world's population around 2011, but neither country individually approached a quarter of the global total.

• Confusing India's share of world population (17.5%) with its share of world land area (2.4%) — the two figures are commonly quoted together and are easy to swap
• Assuming a large, round-sounding percentage like 25.1% or 31.9% must be correct simply because India is very populous, without anchoring to the actual Census-era figure
• Not distinguishing India's individual population share from the combined India-plus-China share of world population

MPSC's demography questions frequently test this exact pairing — India's share of world population versus its share of world land area — by offering both correct figures as options and asking for only one of them, rewarding candidates who know precisely which number answers which question rather than only recalling that 'India has a lot of people on relatively little land.'

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  As per the 2011 Census, India's share of the world's total land area was approximately _______.

  • (a)2.4%
  • (b)17.5%
  • (c)9.4%
  • (d)31.9%

  Answer(a) 2.4% — India occupies about 2.4% of the world's land area while accounting for roughly 17.5% of the world's population as per the 2011 Census, a contrast commonly used to illustrate India's population density.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  As per the 2011 Census, which country ranked immediately above India in total population ?

  • (a)United States
  • (b)Indonesia
  • (c)China
  • (d)Brazil

  Answer(c) China — China was the world's most populous country as per the 2011-era figures, with India ranking second at about 1,210.19 million people, roughly 17.5% of the global population.