CHAPTER 3 : Population Composition NCERT SOLUTION CLASS 12TH GEOGRAPHY | EDUGROWN NOTES

Short Answer Type Questions:

Q1.What does the literacy rate of a country indicate?
Answer:
Proportion of literate population of a country is an indicator of its socio¬economic development as it reveals the standard of living, social status of females, availability of educational facilities and policies of government. Level of economic development is both a cause and consequence of literacy.

Q2.Why is unfavorable female sex ratio found in India and other South Asian countries?
Answer:
In India and South Asian countries, female sex ratio is low due to:

• Widespread gender discrimination
• High mortality rate of female child during birth.
• Lower social-economic status of women.
• High female infant mortality due to negligence and lack of medical facilities.
• Preference to male child which results in high female foeticide and female infanticide.
• Domestic violence against women.

Q3.What do you mean by natural advantage and social disadvantage?
Answer:
Females have a biological advantage over males as they tend to be more resilient than males. This is called Natural Advantage. Social disadvantage is that women are not preferred as a child in the society and people have a preference for a male child. The natural advantage is cancelled by the social disadvantage and discrimination against women.

Long Answer Type Questions:

Q1.How does sex ratio give important information about status of women in a country?
Answer:
In regions where gender discrimination is rampant, the sex ratio is bound to be unfavorable to women. Such areas are those where the practice of female foeticide, female infanticide and domestic violence against women are prevalent. One of the reasons could be lower social-economic status of women in these areas. You must remember that more women in the population does not mean they have a better status. It could be that the men might have migrated to other areas for employment.

Q2.Describe the world pattern of sex ratio.
Answer:
On an average, the world population reflects a sex ratio of 102 males per 100 females. The highest sex ratio in the world has been recorded in Latvia where there are 85 males per 100 females. In contrast, in Qatar there are 311 males per 100 females. The world pattern of sex ratio does not exhibit variations in the developed regions of the world. The sex ratio is favorable for females in 139 countries of the world and unfavorable for them in the remaining 72 countries listed by the United Nations. In general, Asia has a low sex ratio. Countries like China, India, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan have a lower sex ratio.
On the other extreme is greater part of Europe (including Russia) where males are in minority. A deficit of males in the populations of many European countries is attributed to better status of women, and an excessive male-dominated out-migration to different parts of the world in the past.

Q3.How is occupational structure a good indicator of levels of economic development of a nation?
Answer:
The working population (i.e. women and men of the age group – 15 to 59) take part in various occupations ranging from agriculture, forestry, fishing, manufacturing construction, commercial transport, services, communication and other unclassified services. Agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining are classified as primary activities manufacturing as secondary, transport, communication and other services as tertiary and the jobs related to research and developing ideas as quaternary activities.

The proportion of working population engaged in these four sectors is a good indicator of the levels of economic development of a nation. This is because only a developed economy with industries and infrastructure can accommodate more workers in the secondary, tertiary and quaternary sector. If the economy is still in the primitive stages, then the proportion of people engaged in primary activities world be high as it involves extraction of natural resources.