UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

Natural growth (or natural increase) of population is defined as the difference between the crude birth rate and the crude death rate in a given year, usually expressed per thousand population. This measure shows how much the population is changing due to births and deaths alone, without considering migration.

Option A:
Option A is incorrect because the crude birth rate by itself does not account for deaths; high birth and high death rates together can still result in low natural growth.

Option B:
Option B is incorrect as the crude death rate alone captures mortality but ignores the contribution of births to overall population change.

Option C:
Option C is correct since natural increase is calculated as crude birth rate minus crude death rate, directly indicating population growth or decline from vital events.

Option D:
Option D is incorrect because dividing total fertility rate by life expectancy is not a standard demographic measure of growth and does not directly give natural increase.