SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 12 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 12 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

What is meant by population density?

(a)Population per household
(b)People per square kilometre
(c)People per region
(d)People per district

Answer

Why

Correct — B. NCERT defines density of population as the number of persons per unit area, and for India that unit is the square kilometre.

India's density rose from 117 persons per sq km in 1951 to 382 persons per sq km in 2011 → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Population per household — Population per household measures household size, how many people share a home. Density divides people by land area, not by homes.
(c)
People per region — A region has no fixed size, so people per region cannot compare crowding. Density needs a fixed unit of area such as the square kilometre.
(d)
People per district — Districts vary widely in area, so people per district compares nothing like with like. Density is people per unit area.

Concept

Density shows how crowded land is: persons ÷ area. Because the unit of area is fixed, densities of different places can be compared directly.

NCERT's Class XII geography adds two refined measures:
Physiological density = total population ÷ net cultivated area.
Agricultural density = total agricultural population ÷ net cultivable area.

NCERT gives the 2011 spread as 17 persons per sq km in Arunachal Pradesh to 11,297 in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The national figure of 382 hides that range.

Key facts

India's population density was 382 persons per sq km in 2011.
It was 117 persons per sq km in 1951.
NCERT gives the 2011 range as 17 persons per sq km in Arunachal Pradesh to 11,297 in NCT Delhi.
Physiological density divides total population by net cultivated area.

Study next

Physiological and agricultural densityCensus 2011 density by state and Union TerritoryFactors affecting the distribution of population in India

Common traps

Choosing 'people per region' or 'per district' because they sound geographic: neither fixes the area.
Confusing density with household size.

Here the definition itself is asked. Density is also tested at 9 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.18 (density on net cultivated area, keyed physiological density) and at 24 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.12 (Union Territories by 2011 density).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Geography — all 179 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.