Why are demographic data important?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → To plan economic development and general public welfare.
Option (1) To plan economic development and general public welfare. — Correct. Demographic data tell the state how many people there are, of what age and sex, and where they live. A government needs these numbers to plan and carry out its policies, especially those for economic development and general public welfare, such as schools, hospitals and jobs.
Option (2) To compare ranking against other countries. — Incorrect. Data may allow such comparisons, but ranking is not why they matter; their use is in planning for the country’s own people.
Option (3) To arrest population growth. — Incorrect. Counting the population does not stop it from growing. Data can guide a population policy, but their purpose is the wider planning of development and welfare, not one target.
Option (4) To plan the development of rural areas as urban areas. — Incorrect. Demographic data serve planning for the whole population, rural and urban alike; turning villages into towns is no aim of collecting them.
NCERT (2025-26): “Demographic data are important for the planning and implementation of state policies, specially those for economic development and general public welfare. But when they first emerged, social statistics also provided a strong justification for the new discipline of sociology. Aggregate statistics – or the numerical characteristics that refer to a large collectivity consisting of millions of people – offer a concrete and strong argument for the existence of social phenomena.…” |