SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 17 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 10 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Which of the following countries has the highest Hindu population after India?

(a)Sri Lanka
(b)Bhutan
(c)Myanmar
(d)Nepal

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Nepal holds the largest Hindu population of any country after India.

Nepal's 2021 census put Hindus at 81.19 percent of a population of about 29 million, which works out to somewhere near 23 million people.

Nothing else on the list comes close. Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Myanmar are Buddhist-majority countries whose Hindu populations are counted in lakhs, and Bhutan's entire population is under a million.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka is Buddhist-majority. Hindus, largely Tamil, are its second-largest religious group at roughly an eighth of the population — a few million at most.
(b)
Bhutan — Bhutan does have a substantial Hindu minority, but the country's whole population is under a million, so it cannot rank second on an absolute count.
(c)
Myanmar — Myanmar is overwhelmingly Buddhist and its Hindu community is a fraction of one percent of the population — orders of magnitude below Nepal.

Concept

Two different questions hide behind 'highest Hindu population', and SSC means the absolute number, not the share.

On share, Nepal wins as well, at about four-fifths Hindu — the highest proportion of any country in the world, India included. That double result is why Nepal is the safe answer whichever way the question is read.

Nepal was the world's last officially Hindu state. It was declared secular in 2007 and became a federal democratic republic in 2008.

Outside these four options, the next-largest Hindu populations by absolute number are in Bangladesh and Indonesia, so an option list that includes either would need more care.

Key facts

Nepal's 2021 census recorded Hindus as 81.19 percent of the population.
Nepal's total population at the 2021 census was about 29 million.
Nepal was declared a secular state in 2007 and a federal democratic republic in 2008.
Sri Lanka's Hindus, mostly Tamil, form its second-largest religious group after Buddhists.

Study next

Religious composition of India's neighbours from their own national censusesCensus of India 2011 religion data and the Other Religions and Persuasions categoryNepal's transition from monarchy to republic between 2006 and 2008

Common traps

Reading 'highest' as highest proportion and then hesitating, when Nepal leads on both counts.
Assuming Bhutan ranks high because its Hindu share is large, and forgetting how small its population is.

SSC mixes India's own census categories with the demography of neighbouring countries. The Census of India 2011 religion data is asked directly on 17 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.19, on the size of the Other Religions and Persuasions group.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.