Which of the following statements are correct?(A) The birth rate divi…

Which of the following statements are correct?

(A) The birth rate divides live births by the total population in thousands.
(B) The rate of natural increase is the birth rate minus the death rate.
(C) Negative growth means fertility levels are above the replacement rate.
(D) Japan, Russia and Italy have a negative growth rate today.
(E) The rate of natural increase is also called the replacement level.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 4

The correct answer is Option (4) → A, B and D only

(A) The birth rate divides live births by the total population in thousands. — Correct. The birth rate is the live births in an area during a year divided by its total population in thousands, that is, births per 1000 population.

(B) The rate of natural increase is the birth rate minus the death rate. — Correct. The rate of natural increase is the difference between the birth rate and the death rate.

(C) Negative growth means fertility levels are above the replacement rate. — Incorrect. The feature is reversed. Negative growth comes when fertility levels fall below the replacement rate.

(D) Japan, Russia and Italy have a negative growth rate today. — Correct. Japan, Russia and Italy are among the countries that have a negative growth rate today, along with Eastern Europe.

(E) The rate of natural increase is also called the replacement level. — Incorrect. The other name for the rate of natural increase is the growth rate of population. The replacement level is the growth rate reached when natural increase is zero or very small.

NCERT (2026-27): “C C I
Most demographic concepts are expressed as rates or ratios – they involve two numbers. One of these numbers is the particular statistic that has been calculated for a speciﬁc geographical-administrative unit; the other number provides a standard for comparison. For example, the birth rate is the total number of live births in a particular area (an entire country, a state, a district or other territorial unit) during a speciﬁed period (usually a year) divided by the total population of that area in thousands. …”

“The rate of natural increase or the growth rate of population refers to the difference between the birth rate and the death rate. When this difference is zero (or, in practice, very small) then we say that the population has ‘stabilised’, or has reached the ‘replacement level’, which is the rate of growth required for new generations to replace the older ones that are dying out. Sometimes, societies can experience a negative growth rate, that is, their fertility levels are below the replacement rate. This is true of many countries and regions in the world today, such as Japan, Russia, Italy and Eastern Europe.”