Please arrange the following statements in a sequence that reflect th…

The correct answer is Option (1) → A, B, D

A. In the underdeveloped countries, birth rate is low and death rate is also low — the first stage of the demographic transition, that of an underdeveloped and technologically backward society, where population growth is low. (Growth is low here because both rates are very high; see the Note.)

B. In the developing countries, death rate is low and birth rate is high — the transitional stage. Death rates are brought down quickly through disease control, public health and better nutrition, but it takes longer for society to alter its reproductive behaviour, so the birth rate stays high and population grows fast.

C. In the developing countries, death rate is high and birth rate is low — wrong description. In the transitional stage it is the death rate that falls first; the birth rate is the one that stays high.

D. In the developed countries, birth rate and death rate are low — the third and last stage, a developed society where both rates have been reduced considerably and growth is again low.

E. In the developed countries, birth rate and death rate are high — wrong description. A developed society has both rates low, not high.

Note: It seems that there is a mistake in the original NTA paper, which prints statement A as ‘In the underdeveloped countries, birth rate is low and death rate is also low’ when it should read ‘birth rate is high and death rate is also high’. In the first stage of the demographic transition, growth is low because both the death rate and the birth rate are very high. Every option begins with A, so the answer is not affected.