Match the following: | Demographic Transition Stage | Feature | I | P. High fertility and high mortality | II | Q. Declining fertility | III | R. Stationary population | IV | S. Declining mortality | (A) I → P; II → Q; III → R; IV → S (B) I → P; II → S; III → Q; IV → R (C) I → R; II → S; III → Q; IV → P (D) I → S; II → P; III → R; IV → Q

2 marks, −0.667Economics of Growth and DevelopmentPopulation and demographic transitionDemographic transition and the demographic dividendModerateabout 2 min

GATE 2023 Question 50: Population and demographic transition

Match the following:

Demographic Transition Stage	Feature
I	P. High fertility and high mortality
II	Q. Declining fertility
III	R. Stationary population
IV	S. Declining mortality

Tap an option to check your answer.

Answer and worked solution

Answer: (B)

The standard Demographic Transition Model describes four stages a population moves through as a country develops:

Stage I: pre-modern society — high fertility and high mortality (P), population roughly stable due to both rates being high.

Stage II: improvements in sanitation/medicine cause declining mortality (S) while fertility remains high — population grows rapidly.

Stage III: as development continues, fertility begins declining (Q) as well (due to urbanization, education, changing family norms), while mortality stays low — population growth slows.

Stage IV: both fertility and mortality are low, and the population reaches a stationary population (R) with minimal growth.

So the correct mapping is I→P, II→S, III→Q, IV→R, which is option (B).

The trap: (A) I → P ; II → Q ; III → R ; IV → S

Option (A) presents a tempting but incorrect 'straight-line' mapping (I→P, II→Q, III→R, IV→S) that matches stages to features in listed order rather than the true DTM sequence — students who haven't internalized that mortality falls before fertility in the transition (Stage II is about declining mortality, not declining fertility) may default to this simpler-looking but wrong pattern.

Population and demographic transition has come up 34 times in 5 exams since 2010.

What this question tests

This question is on Demographic transition and the demographic dividend, part of Population and demographic transition in Economics of Growth and Development.

How birth and death rates change as economies develop, and the growth window this opens.

TestStop has 12 past-paper questions on this subtopic.

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Question from the GATE 2023 paper. Solutions are TestStop's own. Not affiliated with or endorsed by any examination authority.