Statistics Officer (Lok Sewa) - Nepal Statistics Service · Nepal · Public Service Commission Nepal
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 Statistics Officer spread across the units of Demography & Vital Statistics. Difficulty: 9 easy, 13 medium, 0 hard.
| Life tables: construction and uses; abridged life tables | 5 | |
| Measures of mortality: crude, age-specific and standardised death rates; infant mortality | 4 | |
| Measures of fertility: crude, general, age-specific and total fertility rates; GRR and NRR | 3 | |
| Sources of demographic data: census, civil registration and sample registration | 2 | |
| Migration measures | 2 | |
| Population growth models: exponential and logistic curves | 2 | |
| Population projection: component method | 2 | |
| Rural and farm-household demography | 2 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Demographic and Health Surveys estimate child mortality mainly from which data?
B. Complete birth histories of women of reproductive age
Each woman reports every live birth, its date and, if the child died, the age at death; mortality rates are computed from these histories.
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
When is indirect standardisation preferred to direct standardisation?
C. When the study population's age rates are unreliable
Indirect standardisation needs only the study population's age distribution and total deaths, applying standard rates to get expected deaths. Direct standardisation needs reliable rates in each study 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
An observed central death rate at age 70 is m₇₀ = 0.02. Assuming deaths are spread evenly over the year, what is q₇₀?
C. 0.0198
q = 2m/(2 + m) = 0.04/2.02 = 0.0198. q is slightly less than m because the denominator of q is persons alive at the start of the year, while m uses person-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
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
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