Identify the statements which explain the characteristics of the second stage of demographic transition theory.
(A) Fertility remains high in the beginning of this stage.
(B) Improvements in sanitation and health conditions lead to a decline in mortality.
(C) The population is either stable or grows slowly.
(D) The net addition to the population is high.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (A), (B) and (D) only
The demographic transition theory has three stages. A society moves from high births and high deaths to low births and low deaths as it becomes urban, industrial and literate.
(A) Fertility remains high in the beginning of this stage. — Correct. At the start of the second stage, families still have many children. Births fall only slowly, later in the stage.
(B) Improvements in sanitation and health conditions lead to a decline in mortality. — Correct. Clean water, better sanitation and medicines save lives, so the death rate falls in this stage.
(C) The population is either stable or grows slowly. — Incorrect. This is the last (third) stage, when both births and deaths are low. In the second stage the population grows fast.
(D) The net addition to the population is high. — Correct. Births stay high while deaths fall. This gap between births and deaths adds many people every year.
NCERT (2026-27): “Demographic Transition … Fertility remains high in the beginning of second stage but it declines with time. This is accompanied by reduced mortality rate. Improvements in sanitation and health conditions lead to decline in mortality. Because of this gap the net addition to population is high.” “In the last stage, both fertility and mortality decline considerably. The population is either stable or grows slowly. The population becomes urbanised, literate and has high technical know-how and deliberately controls the family size.” |