Unit 2: Population and Migration Patterns and Processes

Original practice questions written to the published framework for this section. No expert has reviewed them, and they are not taken from any official exam. Try each one before you open the answer.

1. Question 1Foundational

   Which measure of population density divides a country's total population by its total land area?

   1. AArithmetic density
   2. BPhysiological density
   3. CAgricultural density
   4. DThe dependency ratio

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   Answer: A. Arithmetic density

   Arithmetic density is the simple people-per-unit-of-land figure and says nothing about land quality. Physiological density is the tempting distractor because it uses the same population but divides by arable land only, which is why a desert country can show a low arithmetic density and a very high physiological one.

   Key insight: Arithmetic density counts land; physiological density counts only the land that can feed people.

2. Question 2Foundational

   In the demographic transition model, which stage combines still-high birth rates with sharply falling death rates and therefore the fastest natural increase?

   1. AStage 2
   2. BStage 1
   3. CStage 3
   4. DStage 4

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   Answer: A. Stage 2

   Improvements in sanitation, food supply, and medicine cut death rates in Stage 2 long before cultural change lowers birth rates, so the gap between the two produces rapid growth. Stage 3 is the tempting distractor, but by then birth rates are falling too and growth is slowing.

   Key insight: Population grows fastest not when births rise but when deaths fall while births stay high.

3. Question 3Intermediate

   In a country with low infant and child mortality, approximately what total fertility rate is needed for the population to replace itself without migration?

   1. AAbout 2.1 children per woman
   2. BAbout 1.0 child per woman
   3. CAbout 3.5 children per woman
   4. DAbout 4.5 children per woman

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   Answer: A. About 2.1 children per woman

   Two children replace two parents, and the extra fraction accounts for children who do not survive to reproductive age and for the slight surplus of male births. The value of 1.0 is the tempting distractor because it sounds like one child per parent, but a population in which each woman bears one child halves with every generation.

   Key insight: Sustained fertility below about 2.1 means a shrinking, aging population unless immigration makes up the difference.

4. Question 4Intermediate

   What term describes a person who has crossed an international border to escape war or persecution and cannot safely return home?

   1. AA refugee
   2. BAn internally displaced person
   3. CA guest worker
   4. DA chain migrant

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   Answer: A. A refugee

   The defining features of refugee status are a well-founded fear of persecution and the crossing of an international boundary. An internally displaced person is the tempting distractor because the cause of flight is the same, but that person remains inside their own country and so falls under a different legal framework.

   Key insight: The border is the dividing line: same danger, different label, and very different legal protections.

5. Question 5Advanced

   Thomas Malthus predicted eventual famine by contrasting two rates of growth. Which pair did he assign to population and to food supply?

   1. APopulation grows geometrically while food supply grows arithmetically
   2. BPopulation grows arithmetically while food supply grows geometrically
   3. CBoth population and food supply grow geometrically
   4. DBoth population and food supply grow arithmetically

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   Answer: A. Population grows geometrically while food supply grows arithmetically

   Malthus argued that population multiplies while food output merely adds, so subsistence must eventually cap population through famine, disease, or war. Reversing the two rates is the tempting distractor, but no major theorist claims population grows only arithmetically; critics such as Ester Boserup instead argue that population pressure is itself what spurs agricultural innovation, so food output can rise far faster than Malthus assumed.

   Key insight: Malthus was wrong about the twentieth century because he could not anticipate the yield gains of mechanized and Green Revolution agriculture.