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Class 10 Economics: Development, 8 practice questions with answers

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These are 8 practice questions on Chapter 1, Development, of the NCERT Class 10 Economics textbook, Understanding Economic Development. Each has a worked answer and the textbook page it comes from. Two of them read the chapter's tables on India and its neighbours and on the per capita income of three States, and one reads its table on crude oil reserves. The others ask you to work out a national per capita income from made-up regions, calculate a BMI, cost a shared service, sort claims about resources, and judge three assertion-and-reason pairs. Try each one on paper before you open the answer.

These questions are our own, drafted with AI help. Every fact was checked against the textbook page it cites, but no practising teacher has reviewed them yet. If you find a mistake, please tell us.

How this chapter is examined

In CBSE's Social Science paper for 2026-27, Economics carries 20 of the 80 marks, shared by four chapters, this one first (curriculum, page 2). CBSE gives no separate figure for this chapter, and it has no map item. The curriculum's learning outcomes for it include examining how development goals are set, inferring what per capita income says about a nation's economic condition, comparing per capita income across countries and the reasons it differs, and weighing the many views on why development is needed (page 6). The paper has 1-mark multiple-choice questions (including assertion and reason), 2, 3 and 5-mark answers, and 4-mark case studies (page 10).

What the chapter says you need

Facts from the NCERT textbook (Understanding Economic Development, Class X, Chapter 1, printed pages 3 to 17):

India and its neighbours

Question 1. Table 1.6 in the chapter gives data for India and its neighbours from the Human Development Report 2025. Gross National Income per capita (in 2021 PPP dollars): India 9,047, Sri Lanka 12,616, Bangladesh 8,498, Pakistan 5,501, Myanmar 4,919, Nepal 4,726. Life expectancy at birth: India 72, Sri Lanka 77.5, Bangladesh 74.7, Pakistan 67.6, Myanmar 66.9, Nepal 70.4. HDI rank: India 130, Sri Lanka 89, Bangladesh 130, Pakistan 168, Myanmar 150, Nepal 145. (a) Which country in the table has a lower income per person than India but a longer life expectancy? (b) Roughly how many times Nepal's income per person is Sri Lanka's? (c) India and Bangladesh share an HDI rank. How much lower is Bangladesh's income per person, and what does the shared rank tell you about how the UNDP measures development?

Answer: (a) Bangladesh only (74.7 years against India's 72); (b) about 2.7 times; (c) 549 dollars lower, about 6 per cent: Bangladesh matches India's rank with less income because the HDI also counts health and education, not income alone. (a) Pakistan, Myanmar and Nepal all have less income than India, but their life expectancy is also below 72 (Table 1.6, page 13). The text on page 14 names Nepal as well as Bangladesh, but the table's 2023 figure for Nepal, 70.4, is below India's, so go by the table. (b) 12,616 ÷ 4,726 ≈ 2.67. (c) 9,047 − 8,498 = 549, and 549 ÷ 9,047 ≈ 6.1 per cent. Bangladesh lives 2.7 years longer on average, and its schooling (6.8 mean years) is close to India's (6.9). The report ranks countries on education levels, health status and per capita income together, so the people's well-being counts, not income alone (pages 13 to 14). (The calculations are our own.)

A national average from regions

Question 2. A made-up country has three regions. Region A has 2 million people and a total yearly income of Rs 60,000 million; Region B has 3 million people and Rs 45,000 million; Region C has 5 million people and Rs 50,000 million. (a) Find the per capita income of each region. (b) Find the per capita income of the whole country. (c) A student adds the three regional figures and divides by 3. What answer does she get, and why is it wrong? What can the national figure still not tell you?

Answer: (a) A Rs 30,000, B Rs 15,000, C Rs 10,000; (b) Rs 15,500; (c) Rs 18,333, which is Rs 2,833 too high: it counts each region equally though C has half the people. Like any average, the national figure also cannot show how income is shared among people. (a) 60,000 ÷ 2 = 30,000; 45,000 ÷ 3 = 15,000; 50,000 ÷ 5 = 10,000. (b) Per capita income is the country's total income divided by its total population (page 8): (60,000 + 45,000 + 50,000) ÷ (2 + 3 + 5) = 1,55,000 ÷ 10 = Rs 15,500. (c) (30,000 + 15,000 + 10,000) ÷ 3 ≈ 18,333. Half the people live in C, below the national figure. The chapter warns that averages are useful for comparison but hide disparities (page 9). (The country is our own.)

Three States by income

Question 3. Table 1.3 in the chapter gives the per capita income of three States for 2023-24: Haryana Rs 3,25,759, Kerala Rs 2,81,001, Bihar Rs 60,337. (a) Roughly how many times Bihar's figure is Haryana's? And Kerala's? By how much does Haryana's figure exceed Kerala's? (b) Turn each figure into an average per month. (c) What exactly do these figures measure, according to the chapter, and how would the three States rank if this were the only measure of development?

Answer: (a) Haryana about 5.4 times Bihar, Kerala about 4.7 times; Haryana is Rs 44,758 ahead of Kerala, about 16 per cent; (b) about Rs 27,147 in Haryana, Rs 23,417 in Kerala and Rs 5,028 in Bihar each month; (c) they are each State's Net State Domestic Product per person, at the prices of that year, which can roughly be taken as the State's per capita income. On this measure alone Haryana would be the most developed and Bihar the least. (a) 3,25,759 ÷ 60,337 ≈ 5.4; 2,81,001 ÷ 60,337 ≈ 4.7; 3,25,759 − 2,81,001 = 44,758 (Table 1.3, page 10). (b) Divide by 12. (c) Page 10. The chapter then shows that other figures, on health and schooling, tell a different story (pages 10 to 12). (The calculations are our own.)

Body Mass Index

Question 4. The chapter explains Body Mass Index (BMI): weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in metres. Its last exercise uses 18.5 as the line below which an adult's BMI counts as below normal. (a) Find the BMI of three made-up adults: Meena, 47 kg and 1.62 m; Arjun, 63 kg and 1.70 m; Salma, 52 kg and 1.55 m. Who is below 18.5? (b) About how many more kilograms would Meena need to reach a BMI of 18.5 at the same height? (c) The chapter's table from the National Family Health Survey (2019-21) gives the percentage of adults below normal BMI: Kerala, men 8.5 and women 10; Karnataka, 17 and 21; Madhya Pradesh, 28 and 28; all States, 20 and 23. In which State is the share of women not higher than that of men? What is the gap in Karnataka? About what fraction of men in all States are below normal?

Answer: (a) Meena 17.9, Arjun 21.8, Salma 21.6: only Meena is below 18.5; (b) about 1.6 kg (to about 48.6 kg); (c) Madhya Pradesh, where both are 28 per cent; a gap of 4 points in Karnataka; one in five men (20 per cent). (a) 47 ÷ 1.62² ≈ 17.9; 63 ÷ 1.70² ≈ 21.8; 52 ÷ 1.55² ≈ 21.6. How to calculate BMI is on page 13. (b) 18.5 × 1.62² ≈ 48.6, and 48.6 − 47 = 1.6. (c) Table, page 17: 21 − 17 = 4. (The three adults and the sums are our own. For children, the chapter compares BMI with age tables instead of one line.)

One guard or many?

Question 5. A made-up locality has 200 houses. Each house could hire its own guard for Rs 9,000 a month, or the locality could hire 6 guards for everyone at Rs 15,000 each a month. (a) What does the shared plan cost each house? What fraction of the private cost is that? (b) How much does the whole locality save each month with the shared plan? (c) What point does the chapter make with examples like this, and which other services does it give as best provided for everyone together?

Answer: (a) Rs 450 a house, one-twentieth of Rs 9,000; (b) Rs 17,10,000 a month; (c) many important things in life are best and most cheaply provided collectively. Money in your pocket cannot buy everything you need to live well, such as a pollution-free environment, unadulterated medicines or protection from infectious disease. The chapter's examples include security for a locality and schools that the government opens for all children, and it says Kerala's low infant mortality comes from good basic health and education facilities. (a) 6 × 15,000 ÷ 200 = 450, and 9,000 ÷ 450 = 20. (b) 200 × (9,000 − 450) = 17,10,000. (c) Pages 11 to 12. (The locality and its costs are our own.)

Crude oil reserves

Question 6. Table 1.7 in the chapter gives crude oil reserves in 2017, in thousand million barrels, and the number of years they will last at the present rate of extraction: Middle East 836 and 70 years; USA 69 and 10.5 years; World 1,732 and 47 years. (a) What share of the world's reserves is in the Middle East? In the USA? (b) Divide each region's reserves by its number of years to estimate how much it extracts each year. Compare the USA with the Middle East. (c) What does the chapter say about countries like India and the USA in this situation?

Answer: (a) about 48.3 per cent in the Middle East, about 4 per cent in the USA; (b) about 11.9 thousand million barrels a year for the Middle East, 6.6 for the USA and 36.9 for the world: the USA extracts more than half as much as the Middle East each year from about one-twelfth of the reserves, which is why its oil lasts so few years; (c) India does not have enough oil of its own and imports it, so higher oil prices are a burden; the USA, with low reserves of its own, tries to get oil by using its military or economic strength. (a) 836 ÷ 1,732 ≈ 48.3 per cent and 69 ÷ 1,732 ≈ 4.0 per cent (Table 1.7, page 15). (b) 836 ÷ 70 ≈ 11.9; 69 ÷ 10.5 ≈ 6.6; 1,732 ÷ 47 ≈ 36.9; 6.6 ÷ 11.9 ≈ 0.55, and 836 ÷ 69 ≈ 12. (c) Page 15. The table's world figure is 47 years; the text beside it rounds this to about 50. (The extraction estimates are our own.)

Resources: true or false?

Question 7. (a) A made-up village's groundwater is recharged by about 120 units of rain water a year, and its farms pump out 150 units. Is it overusing the resource, and by how much? (b) The chapter reports that about 300 districts saw their water level fall by more than 4 metres over 20 years. On average, how much is that a year? (c) Say whether each claim is true or false, and correct the false ones.

  1. Groundwater is a renewable resource, yet it can still be overused.
  2. Once new oil fields are discovered, crude oil becomes a renewable resource.
  3. Groundwater overuse in India is found only in dry desert areas.
  4. Environmental damage stays inside the country that causes it.

Answer: (a) yes, by 30 units a year, a quarter more than is replaced; (b) about 0.2 metres a year; (c) 1 true; 2 false; 3 false; 4 false. (a) 150 − 120 = 30, and 30 ÷ 120 = 25 per cent: a resource is overused when we take more than nature replenishes (page 15). (b) 4 ÷ 20 = 0.2 (groundwater example, page 14). (c) (1) Rain replenishes groundwater, but using more than is replaced overuses it (page 15). (2) Discoveries add to the stock, but crude oil stays non-renewable and the stock will still run out over time (page 15). (3) The chapter finds overuse in the farming regions of Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh, in the hard rock plateaus of central and south India, in some coastal areas and in fast-growing cities (page 14). (4) Its consequences do not respect national or state boundaries (page 16). (The village and the yearly average are our own.)

Assertion and reason

Question 8. For each pair, choose: (A) both true, and R explains A; (B) both true, but R does not explain A; (C) A true, R false; (D) A false, R true.

  1. A: To compare countries, average income is a better measure than total income. R: Countries have different populations.
  2. A: Better income is the only goal people have for development. R: People also want equal treatment, freedom, security and respect.
  3. A: Kerala's infant mortality rate is lower than Haryana's. R: Haryana's per capita income is higher than Kerala's.

Answer: 1 (A); 2 (D); 3 (B). (1) Both are true, and R is the reason: when populations differ, total income says nothing about what a typical person earns (page 8). (2) A is false: development goals include other important things besides income. R is true (pages 5 to 6). (3) Both are true (pages 10 to 12), but a higher income in Haryana does not explain Kerala's low infant mortality; the chapter puts that down to Kerala's basic health and education facilities.

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Sources

All opened and read on 3 November 2026. Page numbers are the printed page numbers of the textbook.

The facts, figures and tables are from the textbook pages above. The questions, worked answers, the sums and the examples marked as ours are our own. This guide is general information; follow your teacher and the official CBSE notices.

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