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IB Geography HL practice questions

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Question 1Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

A country has a crude birth rate of 12 per 1,000, a crude death rate of 10 per 1,000, and net migration of −3 per 1,000. What is its annual rate of natural increase and total population change per 1,000?

  1. Natural increase −1 per 1,000; total change 2 per 1,000
  2. Natural increase 2 per 1,000; total change 5 per 1,000
  3. Natural increase 2 per 1,000; total change −1 per 1,000 Correct answer.
  4. Natural increase 22 per 1,000; total change 19 per 1,000

Explanation

Rate of natural increase is CBR minus CDR, so 12 − 10 = 2 per 1,000. Total population change adds net migration, so 2 + (−3) = −1 per 1,000, meaning the population is slightly shrinking despite natural growth.

Question 2Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which stage of the demographic transition model is characterised by high and fluctuating birth rates, high death rates, and very slow population growth?

  1. Stage 2
  2. Stage 4
  3. Stage 1 Correct answer.
  4. Stage 3

Explanation

Stage 1 describes pre-industrial societies where both birth and death rates are high, so natural increase is close to zero and population totals stay stable. Death rates fall first in Stage 2, which is what triggers rapid growth.

Question 3Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

A population pyramid is broad at the base, narrows sharply with age, and has a low median age. Which interpretation is most consistent with this shape?

  1. Low youthful dependency and an ageing population
  2. Stable population with equal cohort widths
  3. High youthful dependency and a rapidly growing population Correct answer.
  4. Negative natural increase with high elderly dependency

Explanation

A wide base shows a large share of children, which means high youthful dependency ratios and strong momentum for future growth as those children reach reproductive age. Narrowing with height reflects high mortality or short life expectancy at older ages.

Question 4Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which pair of indicators is most commonly used together to calculate the Human Development Index?

  1. Crude birth rate and infant mortality rate
  2. Gini coefficient and literacy rate
  3. Urbanisation rate and fertility rate
  4. Life expectancy at birth and mean years of schooling Correct answer.

Explanation

The HDI combines three dimensions: health measured by life expectancy at birth, education measured by mean and expected years of schooling, and income measured by GNI per capita. Birth rates, the Gini coefficient and urbanisation are not HDI components.

Question 5Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which statement best describes the difference between a population's arithmetic density and its physiological density?

  1. Arithmetic density counts only workers, while physiological density counts all residents
  2. Arithmetic density divides population by arable land, while physiological density divides it by total area
  3. Arithmetic density measures urban crowding, while physiological density measures rural crowding
  4. Arithmetic density divides population by total area, while physiological density divides population by arable land Correct answer.

Explanation

Arithmetic density uses the whole territorial area, whereas physiological density uses only cultivable land, so it reveals pressure on food-producing resources. A country with deserts or mountains can have low arithmetic density but very high physiological density.

Question 6Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

In the demographic transition model, which change typically causes the death rate to fall first during Stage 2?

  1. A rapid decline in fertility driven by contraception
  2. Large-scale emigration to relieve population pressure
  3. Improvements in food supply, sanitation and basic medicine Correct answer.
  4. A rise in the average age at first marriage

Explanation

Stage 2 begins when mortality falls because of better nutrition, clean water, sanitation and simple medical advances such as vaccination. Fertility decline and later marriage belong to Stage 3, and emigration is a migration response rather than a cause of mortality decline.

Question 7Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

A country has 30 per cent of its population aged 0–14 and 12 per cent aged 65 and over. Using the dependency ratio formula (dependants per 100 working-age people), which value is closest?

  1. About 58
  2. About 42
  3. About 100
  4. About 72 Correct answer.

Explanation

The working-age share is 100 − 30 − 12 = 58 per cent. Dependants total 42 per cent, so the ratio is (42 ÷ 58) × 100 ≈ 72 dependants per 100 workers.

Question 8Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

A government introduces a pronatalist policy package of cash bonuses and subsidised childcare. Which outcome is most consistent with demographic evidence from such policies?

  1. A small, often temporary rise in births concentrated among existing parents Correct answer.
  2. A sustained return to replacement-level fertility within a few years
  3. A sharp rise in net immigration from neighbouring countries
  4. An immediate fall in the crude death rate among older cohorts

Explanation

Pronatalist incentives usually produce a modest and sometimes temporary increase, partly by shifting the timing of births among couples who already intended to have children. Structural factors such as housing costs and female labour participation limit the effect on completed fertility.

Question 9Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which migration flow is best classified as forced migration rather than voluntary economic migration?

  1. People fleeing armed conflict across a national border Correct answer.
  2. Retirees relocating to a warmer coastal region
  3. Workers moving to a city for higher factory wages
  4. Students enrolling at a university in another country

Explanation

Forced migration involves people who leave because of threats such as conflict, persecution or disaster, without a genuine choice to remain. Economic, lifestyle and educational moves are generally treated as voluntary, even when constrained by hardship.

Question 10Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which factor most directly explains why the epidemiological transition shifts the burden of disease from infectious to non-communicable conditions?

  1. Reduced international travel limits the spread of communicable disease
  2. Higher birth rates increase the number of children exposed to infection
  3. Longer life expectancy allows chronic degenerative diseases to become more prevalent Correct answer.
  4. Declining urbanisation lowers exposure to air pollution

Explanation

As mortality falls and people live longer, a larger share of the population reaches ages at which cancers, cardiovascular disease and diabetes dominate. Improved sanitation and medicine reduce infectious disease, so non-communicable conditions account for a growing proportion of deaths.

Question 11Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which combination of factors best explains why the ITCZ migrates north and south of the equator through the year?

  1. Variations in the Earth's rotational speed between summer and winter
  2. The melting of polar ice reducing atmospheric pressure at high latitudes
  3. Seasonal shifts in the latitude of maximum solar heating and the resulting pressure belts Correct answer.
  4. Annual changes in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the troposphere

Explanation

The ITCZ follows the zone of most intense solar heating, which shifts toward the hemisphere experiencing summer. This moves the low-pressure belt and its associated convectional rainfall north or south, driving seasonal wet and dry seasons in the tropics.

Question 12Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Two coastal cities at the same latitude differ in temperature range: one has a small annual range, the other a large one. Which explanation is most plausible?

  1. The maritime city has a higher altitude, which reduces its annual range
  2. The maritime city is moderated by the high specific heat capacity of the ocean Correct answer.
  3. The continental city has greater cloud cover, which amplifies seasonal extremes
  4. The continental city receives more insolation because it is farther from the sea

Explanation

Water heats and cools more slowly than land because of its high specific heat capacity, so maritime locations have cooler summers and milder winters. Continental interiors heat and cool rapidly, producing a much larger annual temperature range.

Question 13Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which process produces orographic rainfall on the windward slope of a mountain range?

  1. Surface heating creates convection without any topographic forcing
  2. Air is forced to rise, cools adiabatically and condenses into cloud Correct answer.
  3. Air descends, warms and reaches saturation on the slope
  4. Cold fronts push warm air upward along a flat plain

Explanation

When prevailing winds meet a mountain barrier, air is forced to ascend, expands and cools adiabatically until it reaches dew point, forming cloud and precipitation. The leeward side then experiences descending, warming air and a rain shadow.

Question 14Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which statement best explains why urban areas often record higher temperatures than surrounding rural areas at night?

  1. Built surfaces store heat by day and release it slowly, while reduced vegetation limits evaporative cooling Correct answer.
  2. Urban areas receive significantly more insolation because of their latitude
  3. Cities have higher albedo surfaces that trap longwave radiation
  4. Rural areas have more concrete, which absorbs more incoming solar radiation

Explanation

The urban heat island arises because concrete and asphalt absorb and re-radiate heat, vegetation and water surfaces that would cool the air by evapotranspiration are scarce, and human energy use adds heat. The effect is often strongest at night when stored heat is released.

Question 15Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which evidence is used most directly to reconstruct atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations over the past 800,000 years?

  1. Sediment layers on the ocean floor alone
  2. Historical thermometer records from the nineteenth century
  3. Air bubbles trapped in polar ice cores Correct answer.
  4. Tree-ring widths from temperate forests

Explanation

Ice cores preserve bubbles of ancient atmosphere, allowing direct measurement of past carbon dioxide and methane concentrations alongside temperature proxies. This record extends hundreds of thousands of years, far beyond instrumental records.

Question 16Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which feedback is best described as positive in the climate system?

  1. Warmer oceans increase carbon dioxide solubility, removing it from the atmosphere
  2. Higher temperatures increase plant growth, absorbing more carbon dioxide
  3. Warming thaws permafrost, releasing methane that causes further warming Correct answer.
  4. Increased evaporation produces more low cloud, raising albedo and cooling the surface

Explanation

A positive feedback amplifies the initial change, and permafrost thaw releasing methane does exactly that by adding greenhouse gas and driving more warming. The other options describe processes that counteract the initial change and are therefore negative feedbacks.

Question 17Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

A country's population grows from 20 million to 25 million over 20 years. What is the approximate average annual growth rate?

  1. About 2.5 per cent
  2. About 0.25 per cent
  3. About 5 per cent
  4. About 1.1 per cent Correct answer.

Explanation

A 25 per cent increase over 20 years gives roughly 1.25 per cent per year using simple division, and compounding reduces this to about 1.1 per cent. The doubling-time rule of 70 confirms this is a slow-to-moderate growth rate.

Question 18Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which measure best captures the pressure that a growing population places on available freshwater resources in an arid region?

  1. Total national rainfall in millimetres
  2. Per capita renewable water availability Correct answer.
  3. The proportion of the population in urban areas
  4. Crude birth rate alone

Explanation

Per capita renewable water availability divides usable supply by population, so it falls as numbers rise and directly indicates water stress. Rainfall totals ignore storage, evaporation and demand, while birth rates and urbanisation are indirect.

Question 19Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which statement best explains the concept of the resource frontier in relation to changing resource availability?

  1. Technological and economic change can convert previously uneconomic deposits into reserves Correct answer.
  2. Reserves always equal total geological occurrence of a mineral
  3. Resource availability depends only on the physical crust, not on price or technology
  4. Resources are fixed in quantity and are depleted at a constant rate

Explanation

A resource becomes a reserve when it can be extracted profitably, so shifts in price and technology move the frontier and reclassify deposits. This is why global reserve estimates for many minerals have risen despite continued extraction.

Question 20Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

A transboundary river is dammed upstream for hydropower, reducing flow to downstream farmers. Which concept best frames this dispute?

  1. A purely physical water scarcity caused by declining regional rainfall
  2. A case of water poverty resulting from low household income
  3. A water conflict driven by competing sectoral demands and upstream–downstream asymmetry Correct answer.
  4. An example of a virtual water trade imbalance between countries

Explanation

The dispute is political and economic rather than purely physical: upstream control over flow creates asymmetric power, and hydropower, agriculture and ecosystems compete for the same water. Physical scarcity concerns absolute shortage, which is not the described cause.

Question 21Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which energy source is classified as renewable but still produces significant greenhouse gas emissions over its life cycle when reservoirs flood large areas of vegetation?

  1. Geothermal heat pumps
  2. Natural gas combined cycle
  3. Nuclear fission
  4. Large-scale hydropower Correct answer.

Explanation

Flooded vegetation in large reservoirs decomposes and releases methane and carbon dioxide, so hydropower is renewable but not always low-emission. Life-cycle emissions vary widely with reservoir size, climate and vegetation cleared.

Question 22Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

A government wants to reduce national carbon emissions without raising energy prices sharply. Which policy mix is most consistent with the polluter-pays principle?

  1. A carbon tax with revenue recycled into efficiency subsidies Correct answer.
  2. Setting voluntary emission targets with no enforcement
  3. A blanket ban on all fossil fuel use within one year
  4. Removing subsidies for renewable generation

Explanation

A carbon tax makes emitters bear the external cost of emissions, which is the polluter-pays principle, and recycling revenue into efficiency measures offsets price impacts. Abrupt bans and voluntary targets either ignore cost or lack enforcement.

Question 23Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

A choropleth map shows fertility rates by country using a diverging colour scheme. Which limitation most directly affects interpretation of this map?

  1. Large countries dominate visually while internal variation is hidden Correct answer.
  2. Colour categories cannot be ordered from low to high
  3. Choropleth maps are unsuitable for any demographic variable
  4. The map cannot display numerical data in a legend

Explanation

Choropleth maps assume uniformity within each unit, so a large country with high internal variation appears as a single value and its area dominates the visual impression. This is a problem of aggregation and area weighting rather than of colour design.

Question 24Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which statement best explains why the ecological footprint of a high-income country can exceed its own biocapacity?

  1. It has more forest than it can use, so its footprint is artificially low
  2. Footprint accounts ignore fossil fuel use entirely
  3. Biocapacity measures only marine ecosystems, excluding land
  4. It imports resources and exports waste, drawing on the capacity of other regions Correct answer.

Explanation

An ecological deficit occurs when consumption exceeds domestic biocapacity, which is possible because trade allows countries to import resources and outsource environmental pressure. The footprint measures demand in global hectares and includes carbon from fossil fuels.

Question 25Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

A city aims to reduce its ecological footprint through densification and public transport investment. Which outcome is most consistent with the evidence?

  1. A guaranteed fall in the city's total population
  2. Complete independence from imported food
  3. Elimination of all household waste generation
  4. Lower per capita transport emissions but possible increased pressure on local green space Correct answer.

Explanation

Densification and transit investment typically cut per capita car use and emissions, but higher density can increase pressure on urban green space and heat island effects. Waste generation and food import dependence are not automatically resolved by compact growth.

Question 26Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which measure expresses the number of live births per 1,000 people in a population in a given year?

  1. Infant mortality rate
  2. Total fertility rate
  3. Crude birth rate Correct answer.
  4. Natural increase rate

Explanation

The crude birth rate counts live births in a year divided by total mid-year population, multiplied by 1,000, so it is expressed per 1,000 people. Total fertility rate instead estimates births per woman over a lifetime, and natural increase rate compares births with deaths.

Question 27Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

A population pyramid has a very broad base that narrows sharply above the age of about 20. Which interpretation is most consistent with this shape?

  1. A population distorted mainly by large-scale in-migration of retirees
  2. A stationary population with equal cohort sizes at every age
  3. High fertility with high youthful mortality or a recent fertility decline Correct answer.
  4. An ageing population with low fertility and long life expectancy

Explanation

A wide base shows that a large share of the population is in the youngest cohorts, which indicates high fertility. The sharp narrowing upward shows that many people do not survive into older cohorts, or that fertility has recently begun to fall, creating a concave profile.

Question 28Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which term describes the movement of people within a country's borders, for example from a rural village to a capital city?

  1. International migration
  2. Circular migration
  3. Internal migration Correct answer.
  4. Net migration

Explanation

Internal migration is movement between locations inside the same country, such as rural-to-urban flows. It changes the distribution of population within a country but does not alter the national total.

Question 29Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

What is the main reason that atmospheric pressure decreases with increasing altitude?

  1. The mass of overlying air is smaller at higher altitudes Correct answer.
  2. Water vapour concentration increases with altitude
  3. Air temperature always falls with altitude in the troposphere
  4. The Coriolis force is stronger at high altitude

Explanation

Pressure is the weight of the air column above a point, so as altitude rises there is less overlying atmosphere and pressure falls. Temperature changes and humidity variations modify the rate of decrease but are not the fundamental cause.

Question 30Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which process transfers the greatest share of energy from the Earth's surface into the lower atmosphere in humid tropical regions?

  1. Long-wave radiation absorbed directly by nitrogen
  2. Latent heat transfer through evaporation and condensation Correct answer.
  3. Reflection of short-wave radiation from cloud tops
  4. Conduction from the ground into the air

Explanation

In humid tropics large amounts of energy are used to evaporate water, and that latent heat is released when the vapour condenses in rising air, warming the atmosphere. Conduction is important only in a thin layer near the surface, and nitrogen absorbs little long-wave radiation.

Question 31Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which statement best defines a non-renewable resource?

  1. A resource whose natural replenishment rate is far slower than its rate of use Correct answer.
  2. A resource whose total stock is unknown to geologists
  3. A resource that cannot be recycled once it has been extracted
  4. A resource that is only used in high-income countries

Explanation

Non-renewable resources such as coal and oil form over geological timescales, so consumption depletes the stock faster than it can be replaced. The defining criterion is the mismatch between formation rate and use rate, not recyclability or location of use.

Question 32Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which factor most strongly increases the water footprint of a diet based on animal products compared with a plant-based diet?

  1. The water lost through evaporation from reservoirs
  2. The water needed to grow feed for livestock Correct answer.
  3. The rainfall falling on grazing land
  4. The water used in household cooking

Explanation

Producing meat and dairy requires large volumes of water to grow animal feed, and this indirect water use dominates the footprint. Household cooking and natural rainfall on pasture are comparatively minor components of the total.

Question 33Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

On a map showing population density, which type of map uses shading to represent values in defined administrative areas?

  1. Isoline map
  2. Choropleth map Correct answer.
  3. Flow-line map
  4. Dot map

Explanation

A choropleth map shades whole administrative units according to a value such as people per square kilometre. This makes it easy to compare regions but can hide variation inside large units.

Question 34Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

A country has a crude birth rate of 38 per 1,000 and a crude death rate of 12 per 1,000. What is its rate of natural increase as a percentage?

  1. 2.6 per cent Correct answer.
  2. 26 per cent
  3. 0.26 per cent
  4. 3.2 per cent

Explanation

The natural increase is the birth rate minus the death rate, 38 minus 12, which gives 26 per 1,000. Dividing by 10 converts per 1,000 to a percentage, giving 2.6 per cent.

Question 35Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which combination of conditions is most likely to produce a high death rate in a low-income country?

  1. Low fertility combined with high life expectancy
  2. Limited access to clean water and widespread infectious disease Correct answer.
  3. High levels of urbanisation with advanced healthcare
  4. Rapid ageing of the population with generous pensions

Explanation

Death rates are highest where infectious disease, malnutrition and unsafe water are widespread and health services are weak. These conditions raise mortality, especially among infants and children.

Question 36Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

A government wants to reduce emigration of skilled workers. Which policy is most directly aimed at retaining them?

  1. Restricting rural-to-urban migration
  2. Improving domestic wages and career opportunities for graduates Correct answer.
  3. Building new international airports
  4. Increasing the retirement age for all workers

Explanation

Skilled workers often emigrate for higher pay and better career prospects, so improving domestic wages and opportunities addresses the main pull factors. Transport infrastructure or pension changes do not directly target the reasons professionals leave.

Question 37Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which statement best explains why the ITCZ does not remain permanently over the equator?

  1. The Coriolis force reverses direction at the equator
  2. The seasonal migration of the thermal equator follows the movement of maximum solar heating Correct answer.
  3. The ITCZ is controlled only by ocean currents
  4. The ITCZ follows the position of the magnetic poles

Explanation

The zone of maximum heating shifts with the overhead sun between the tropics, so the convergence zone moves north in the northern summer and south in the southern summer. Land–sea heating contrasts and the monsoon also reinforce this seasonal shift.

Question 38Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which factor best explains why the western side of a subtropical ocean basin is often warmer at the surface than the eastern side?

  1. Cold polar water sinks in the west and rises in the east
  2. Warm equatorial currents are carried poleward along the western boundary Correct answer.
  3. Salinity is higher in the west due to river input
  4. Trade winds blow only over the eastern basin

Explanation

Western boundary currents such as the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio carry warm water from low latitudes towards the poles, raising temperatures on the western side of the basin. Eastern boundaries carry cold water equatorward and are associated with upwelling.

Question 39Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

A community experiences a rainfall event that is rare in its records, and the probability of such an event in any year is 1 in 50. What is the return period of this event?

  1. 50 years Correct answer.
  2. 5 years
  3. 500 years
  4. 1 year

Explanation

The return period is the reciprocal of the annual probability, so a probability of 1 in 50 corresponds to a 50-year return period. This is a statistical average interval, not a guarantee that the event occurs exactly once every 50 years.

Question 40Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which feedback loop is created when melting permafrost releases methane, which increases warming and causes further melting?

  1. Negative feedback
  2. Static equilibrium
  3. Positive feedback Correct answer.
  4. Neutral feedback

Explanation

A positive feedback amplifies the initial change: warming releases methane, and methane adds to warming, which melts more permafrost. Such loops can accelerate change away from the starting state.

Question 41Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which human activity is the largest single source of global greenhouse gas emissions from land use change?

  1. Urban expansion onto dryland
  2. Planting of new forests on degraded land
  3. Construction of offshore wind farms
  4. Deforestation, especially in tropical regions Correct answer.

Explanation

Clearing tropical forest for agriculture and pasture releases carbon stored in biomass and soils and removes a future carbon sink, making deforestation the dominant land-use emission source. Afforestation and renewable energy reduce emissions rather than add to them.

Question 42Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which measure best indicates whether a country's water use is sustainable relative to its renewable supply?

  1. Average household water bill
  2. Number of reservoirs built in the country
  3. Water stress, calculated as withdrawals as a share of renewable freshwater resources Correct answer.
  4. Total annual rainfall measured in millimetres

Explanation

Water stress compares withdrawals with the renewable supply available, so it shows whether use is approaching or exceeding replenishment. Rainfall totals alone do not reveal how much is abstracted or how the supply is distributed.

Question 43Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which concept explains why a mineral that was once uneconomic to extract can become a reserve as technology improves?

  1. Resource depletion through changing economic and technological conditions Correct answer.
  2. The migration of minerals to new locations
  3. The permanent exhaustion of the Earth's crust
  4. The elimination of all environmental costs

Explanation

A reserve is the part of a resource that can be extracted profitably with current technology and prices. As extraction methods improve or prices rise, material previously classified as uneconomic can be reclassified as a reserve.

Question 44Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

A country's energy mix shifts from coal to natural gas for electricity. Which change in emissions is most likely, assuming the same amount of electricity is generated?

  1. Lower carbon dioxide emissions per unit of electricity Correct answer.
  2. No change in carbon dioxide emissions
  3. A complete elimination of carbon dioxide emissions
  4. Higher carbon dioxide emissions per unit of electricity

Explanation

Natural gas releases less carbon dioxide per unit of energy than coal, so switching fuels for the same electricity output lowers emissions. It does not eliminate them, because burning gas still produces carbon dioxide.

Question 45Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which combination of policies is most likely to improve energy security in a country that imports most of its fuel?

  1. Removing all energy efficiency standards
  2. Diversifying suppliers and expanding domestic renewable generation Correct answer.
  3. Reducing investment in the national grid
  4. Relying on a single supplier with a long-term contract

Explanation

Energy security improves when supply sources are diversified and domestic low-carbon generation reduces dependence on imports. A single supplier increases vulnerability, and weaker efficiency or grid investment raises risk.

Question 46Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Which statement best explains why a country with a high ecological footprint can still have a biocapacity surplus?

  1. Ecological footprint never includes carbon emissions
  2. Its biocapacity per person may be large enough to exceed its high per capita demand Correct answer.
  3. Biocapacity measures only urban land
  4. A surplus means the country imports all its food

Explanation

The footprint and biocapacity are compared per person, so a sparsely populated country with abundant productive land can have a large footprint and still retain a surplus. The balance depends on the ratio of demand to available biocapacity, not on demand alone.

Question 47Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Two countries have the same total population, but one has a much higher dependency ratio. Which change would most directly reduce that ratio over the next two decades?

  1. A fall in life expectancy among older people
  2. A rapid increase in emigration of working-age adults
  3. A sharp rise in the birth rate this year
  4. A sustained fall in fertility leading to a smaller share of children Correct answer.

Explanation

The dependency ratio compares dependants (children and older people) with the working-age population. A sustained fertility decline shrinks the child cohort, lowering the numerator while the working-age group remains large, which reduces the ratio.

Question 48Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

A coastal city plans a sea wall, raised buildings and restored wetlands together. Which term best describes this approach to climate adaptation?

  1. Maladaptation through increased vulnerability
  2. Climate geoengineering
  3. Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions
  4. Integrated adaptation combining hard and soft engineering Correct answer.

Explanation

The plan combines hard engineering (sea walls, raised structures) with soft, ecosystem-based measures (wetlands), which is integrated adaptation. It reduces vulnerability to sea-level rise rather than addressing the cause of climate change.

Question 49Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

A transboundary aquifer is shared by two countries, and one begins pumping at a rate that lowers the water table beneath the other. Which concept best frames the dispute?

  1. The resource frontier
  2. The demographic transition model
  3. The tragedy of the commons applied to a shared groundwater resource Correct answer.
  4. The urban heat island effect

Explanation

A shared aquifer is a common-pool resource: it is difficult to exclude users, and one user's abstraction reduces availability for others, which is the tragedy of the commons. The dispute concerns competing use of a finite shared stock.

Question 50Geographic themes and skills (core: population, climate, resources)

Why does a choropleth map of population density risk misleading a reader when it uses large administrative units?

  1. Choropleth maps cannot use numerical data
  2. Averaging over a large area can hide sparsely and densely populated zones within the same unit Correct answer.
  3. Shading always exaggerates small values
  4. Population density cannot be mapped

Explanation

Each unit is shaded with a single average value, so internal contrasts, such as an empty desert beside a crowded city, disappear. This is the ecological fallacy risk of mapping aggregated data across large areas.