According to Census of India 2011, female adolescents in the age group of 10-19 years had a share of:

Correct — C. Census 2011 put India's adolescents, aged 10-19 years, at about 253 million, and within that group females are 47.3% against 52.7% males.

Options (a) and (c) are the two halves of one split, so the whole item turns on whether you are asked for the male share or the female share. The question asks for females, which is option (c).

Option (b), 20.9%, is a real Census 2011 figure but a different one: the share adolescents form of the total population, not the female share within adolescents.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  52.7% — 52.7% is the male share of the same adolescent group. The two halves are printed as adjacent options so that a rushed reader takes the larger number.
• (b)
  20.9% — 20.9% is the share adolescents form of India's total population in Census 2011. The denominator is everybody, not the adolescent group.
• (d)
  31.3% — 31.3% answers nothing in this table. Neither the adolescent share of the population nor the sex split within adolescents produces it.

A Census percentage means nothing until you know which population it sits inside, and that denominator is the whole of this question.

Two denominators are in play here. Adolescents are 20.9% of the total population — a share out of everybody. Within adolescents the sex split is 52.7% male to 47.3% female — a share out of adolescents alone.

Decide which population the percentage sits inside before you look at the options, and the choices sort themselves.

Key facts

• Census 2011 counted about 253 million adolescents aged 10-19 in India.
• Adolescents were 20.9% of India's total population in Census 2011.
• Within that adolescent group the split was 52.7% male and 47.3% female.

Common traps

• Answering 52.7%, the male share, when the question asks for females.
• Picking 20.9%, a genuine Census 2011 adolescent figure that is measured against the whole population.

No directly related past PYQ was found.