2024 GS Paper I, all questions
UPSC Prelims 2024 · GS Paper I
Question 41: Economy and Social Development
The total fertility rate in an economy is defined as :
athe number of children born per 1000 people in the population in a year.
bthe number of children born to a couple in their lifetime in a given population.
cthe birth rate minus death rate.
dthe average number of live births a woman would have by the end of her child-bearing age.
AnswerUPSC’s answer is (d).
Total fertility rate is the average number of live births a woman would have by the end of her child-bearing years (roughly 15 to 49), if she experienced the current age-specific fertility rates throughout. It is measured per woman, not per couple and not per 1000 people. A TFR of about 2.1 is the replacement level, below which a population eventually shrinks.
Why each option is right or wrong
- (a) Wrong: births per 1000 people in a year is the crude birth rate.
- (b) Wrong: TFR is per woman, not a count of children born to a couple.
- (c) Wrong: birth rate minus death rate is the natural rate of increase.
- (d) Right: it is the average number of live births per woman over her child-bearing years.
Answer: UPSC’s key. Explanation: written by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.
Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2024, General Studies Paper I, Series A. The paper on upsc.gov.in.