A district reports a Crude Birth Rate of 24 per 1000 population and a Crude Death Rate of 9 per 1000 population. What is the rate of natural increase?

• A 1.5 percent per year
• B 2.67 percent per year
• C 15 per 1000 population per year ✓
• D 33 per 1000 population per year

Explanation

The rate of natural increase is simply the difference between the crude birth rate and the crude death rate, expressed per 1000 population per year. Here 24 minus 9 gives 15 per 1000. Option A incorrectly converts the difference into a percentage, while options B and D apply wrong arithmetic operations. Migration is deliberately excluded, since this measure captures only natural change.

Reference: Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, 27th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.