Match the concept in List I with the explanation in List II
| LIST I Concept | LIST II Explanation | ||
| A. | Preventive checks | I. | Number of females per 1000 males in a given area at a specified time period |
| B. | Positive checks | II. | Estimated number of years that an average person is expected to survive |
| C. | Life expectancy | III. | Voluntary action to reduce population (like postponing marriage) |
| D. | Sex-ratio | IV. | Involuntary events to reduce population (like famine) |
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → A-III, B-IV, C-II, D-I
(A) Preventive checks — this matches (III) Voluntary action to reduce population (like postponing marriage). In Malthus’s theory these are the ways humanity can voluntarily slow population growth, such as postponing marriage or practising sexual abstinence.
(B) Positive checks — this matches (IV) Involuntary events to reduce population (like famine). Malthus held that famines and diseases were inevitable, nature’s way of correcting the imbalance between food supply and a growing population.
(C) Life expectancy — this matches (II) Estimated number of years that an average person is expected to survive. It is worked out from age-specific death rates in a given area over a period.
(D) Sex-ratio — this matches (I) Number of females per 1000 males in a given area at a specified time period.
NCERT (2025-26): “2.1 Some Theories and Concepts in Demography … Unfortunately, humanity has only a limited ability to voluntarily reduce the growth of its population (through ‘preventive checks’ such as postponing marriage or practicing sexual abstinence or celibacy). Malthus believed therefore that ‘positive checks’ to population growth – in the form of famines and diseases – were inevitable because they were nature’s way of dealing with the imbalance between food supply and increasing population.…” “…One concept which is somewhat complicated is that of life expectancy. This refers to the estimated number of years that an average person is expected to survive. It is calculated on the basis of data on age-specific death rates in a given area over a period of time. The sex ratio refers to the number of females per 1000 males in a given area at a specified time period.…” |