State statistical services: Statistical Officer / Assistant Statistical Officer (State PSCs and selection boards) · India · State Public Service Commissions and Subordinate Service Selection Boards
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersMeasuring populations and their change: sources of demographic data, fertility, mortality and migration measures, life tables, population growth models and projection, which the Indian Statistical Service and national statistical offices examine and rural and farm-household studies use.
In the exams: UPSC ISS Statistics IV (heavy, reported); SSC CGL JSO (present); light in ICAR exams
How our questions for State statistical services spread across the units of Demography & Vital Statistics. Difficulty: 21 easy, 12 medium, 0 hard.
| Measures of fertility: crude, general, age-specific and total fertility rates; GRR and NRR | 7 | |
| Measures of mortality: crude, age-specific and standardised death rates; infant mortality | 6 | |
| Life tables: construction and uses; abridged life tables | 6 | |
| Sources of demographic data: census, civil registration and sample registration | 4 | |
| Population growth models: exponential and logistic curves | 4 | |
| Migration measures | 3 | |
| Population projection: component method | 2 | |
| Stable and stationary populations | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
A population has 2,600 live births in a year and 24,000 women aged 15-49 at mid-year. What is the general fertility rate?
B. 108.3 per 1,000 women
GFR = 2,600/24,000 × 1,000 = 108.3 per 1,000 women aged 15-49. 26.0 would use a total population of 100,000 (that is the CBR).
Further reading: Preston, Heuveline and Guillot, Demography; Pollard, Yusuf and Pollard, Demographic Techniques; Keyfitz and Caswell, Applied Mathematical Demography; UN Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses
In a year there are 4,000 live births and 180 deaths of infants under one year. What is the infant mortality rate?
A. 45 per 1,000 live births
IMR = 180/4,000 × 1,000 = 45. The denominator is live births, not the infant population.
Further reading: Preston, Heuveline and Guillot, Demography; Pollard, Yusuf and Pollard, Demographic Techniques; Keyfitz and Caswell, Applied Mathematical Demography; UN Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses
Death rates per 1,000 are 5 (under 50) and 20 (50 and over) in district A. A standard population has 70,000 under 50 and 30,000 aged 50 and over. What is A's directly standardised death rate?
C. 9.5 per 1,000
SDR = (5 × 70,000 + 20 × 30,000)/100,000 = 9.5 per 1,000. 12.5 is the unweighted average of the two rates.
Further reading: Preston, Heuveline and Guillot, Demography; Pollard, Yusuf and Pollard, Demographic Techniques; Keyfitz and Caswell, Applied Mathematical Demography; UN Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses
In a life table, l₆₀ = 80,000 and T₆₀ = 1,600,000. What is the expectation of life at age 60?
B. 20 years
e₆₀ = T₆₀/l₆₀ = 1,600,000/80,000 = 20 years.
Further reading: Preston, Heuveline and Guillot, Demography; Pollard, Yusuf and Pollard, Demographic Techniques; Keyfitz and Caswell, Applied Mathematical Demography; UN Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses
In a life table, l₂₀ = 96,000 and l₆₀ = 72,000. What is the probability that a person aged 20 survives to age 60?
D. 0.75
P(survive 20 to 60) = l₆₀/l₂₀ = 72,000/96,000 = 0.75. 0.72 is l₆₀/l₀, the probability from birth.
Further reading: Preston, Heuveline and Guillot, Demography; Pollard, Yusuf and Pollard, Demographic Techniques; Keyfitz and Caswell, Applied Mathematical Demography; UN Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses
A district grows from 500,000 to 540,000 between censuses, with 120,000 registered births and 50,000 deaths. What is the net migration by the vital statistics method?
C. -30,000
Net migration = (P_t − P₀) − (B − D) = 40,000 − 70,000 = -30,000: a net loss. +40,000 is the total change; −70,000 the negative of natural increase.
Further reading: Preston, Heuveline and Guillot, Demography; Pollard, Yusuf and Pollard, Demographic Techniques; Keyfitz and Caswell, Applied Mathematical Demography; UN Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses
A population grows from 100 million to 150 million in 10 years. What is the geometric annual growth rate?
C. 4.14% per year
(1 + r)¹⁰ = 1.5, so r = 1.5^0.1 − 1 = 4.14%. 4.05% is the continuous (exponential) rate.
Further reading: Preston, Heuveline and Guillot, Demography; Pollard, Yusuf and Pollard, Demographic Techniques; Keyfitz and Caswell, Applied Mathematical Demography; UN Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses
In a cohort-component projection, 50,000 women aged 20-24 have a five-year survival ratio ₅L₂₅/₅L₂₀ = 0.98 and no migration is assumed. How many will be aged 25-29 five years later?
B. 49,000
50,000 × 0.98 = 49,000. 1,000 is the number expected to die.
Further reading: Preston, Heuveline and Guillot, Demography; Pollard, Yusuf and Pollard, Demographic Techniques; Keyfitz and Caswell, Applied Mathematical Demography; UN Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses
A projected population is 30% aged 0-14, 62% aged 15-64 and 8% aged 65 and over. What is the total dependency ratio?
D. 61.3
Total dependency = (30 + 8)/62 × 100 = 61.3 dependants per 100 working-age persons. 38.0 is the dependants' share of the total population; 48.4 is the youth dependency ratio alone.
Further reading: Preston, Heuveline and Guillot, Demography; Pollard, Yusuf and Pollard, Demographic Techniques; Keyfitz and Caswell, Applied Mathematical Demography; UN Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses
Which conditions define a stationary population?
D. Constant and equal births and deaths, no migration, constant death rates
A stationary population is a stable population with zero growth; its age structure is the life-table Lₓ column.
Further reading: Preston, Heuveline and Guillot, Demography; Pollard, Yusuf and Pollard, Demographic Techniques; Keyfitz and Caswell, Applied Mathematical Demography; UN Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses
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