Read the passage carefully and answer the questions based on the passage:
The demographic advantage or 'dividend' to be derived from the age structure of the population is due to the fact that India is (and will remain for some time) one of the youngest countries in the world. A third of India's population was below 15 years of age in 2011. In 2020, the average Indian was only 29 years old, compared with an average age of 37 in China and the United States, 45 in Western Europe, and 48 in Japan. This implies a large and growing labor force, which can deliver unexpected benefits in terms of growth and prosperity.
Which of the following is directly linked to the benefit of Demographic Dividend?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Reduced dependency ratio
Option (1) Reduced dependency ratio — Correct. The dependency ratio is the ratio of the non-working age population (children and elderly people) to the working-age population (roughly 15 to 64 years). When a country has many young adults and relatively few children and old people, the changing age structure lowers the dependency ratio: each working person has fewer dependents to support, and this is what creates the potential for generating growth.
Option (2) Population explosion — Incorrect. A population explosion is the stage of very high population growth that comes when death rates fall quickly but birth rates stay high. It adds large numbers of children, who are dependents, so it adds to the burden on workers rather than giving a dividend.
Option (3) Increased dependency ratio — Incorrect. A higher dependency ratio means more dependents for every working person. That is a burden on the economy, the very opposite of the demographic dividend.
Option (4) Improved sex ratio — Incorrect. The sex ratio is the number of females per 1000 males in an area. It shows the balance between women and men, not the balance between workers and dependents, so it has nothing to do with the dividend.
NCERT: Indian Society — Chapter 2: The Demographic Structure of the Indian Society (2025-26)
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