Population and Settlement: Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs — examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available free from your board.

Related: Population and Settlement revision notes

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This set is organised into three parts by question type, not into the three lettered sections of the live exam paper – the live paper’s sections correspond to its three themes, and every question below belongs to Theme 1 alone, so reusing those letters here would suggest a paper structure this set does not have.

Resource: a simplified population pyramid, Country X (a lower-income country)

Age (years)   Male %   Female %
75+             0.8      0.9
60-74           2.1      2.3
45-59           4.5      4.6
30-44           7.2      7.3
15-29          11.0     10.8
0-14           14.5     14.2

Questions 1 and 3 refer to this resource.

Part 1 – Core concepts

1. Using the resource above, explain what a population pyramid shows and what its wide base and narrow apex indicate. [4]

2. Define dependency ratio and state how it is calculated. [2]

Part 2 – Extended response

3. Using the resource above, explain the differences you would expect between this pyramid and that of a high-income country, giving three differences with reasons. [9]

4. Explain three government policies used to influence population growth, giving an example and one problem of each. [9]

5. Explain the settlement hierarchy, and explain the concepts of sphere of influence and threshold population. [7]

6. Describe the typical land-use zones of a city in a high-income country and explain two reasons for the pattern. [8]

Part 3 – Applied questions

7. Explain the difference between push factors and pull factors in migration, giving two examples of each. [4]

8. Explain one benefit and one cost of international migration for (a) the receiving country and (b) the source country. [8]

9. Distinguish between the site and the situation of a settlement, giving an example of each. [4]

10. Explain why rapid urban growth in low-income countries often leads to the growth of informal settlements, and describe one strategy used to address this. [8]

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Answers

1. A population pyramid shows the number or percentage of the population in each age group, divided by sex [1] [1]. A wide base indicates a high birth rate with many young dependants [1]; a narrow apex indicates few people surviving to old age, so life expectancy is low [1].

2. The ratio of the dependent population — those under 15 and over 64 — to the working-age population [1]. Calculated as (dependants ÷ working-age population) × 100 [1].

3. Any three, 3 marks each: the low-income country has a much wider base [1], because the birth rate is higher — high infant mortality, children as economic assets, limited family planning [1] [1]. The high-income country has a much wider top [1], because life expectancy is far higher thanks to better healthcare, diet and sanitation [1] [1]. The low-income pyramid narrows sharply and steadily [1], reflecting a higher death rate at every age, whereas the high-income pyramid has near-vertical sides until old age [1] [1]. The high-income country may show a bulge in the middle-aged groups [1], reflecting a past baby boom that is now ageing [1] [1].

4. Any three, 3 marks each: Anti-natalist policies — measures to reduce the birth rate, such as China’s former one-child policy [1] [1]; problems included a skewed sex ratio from sex-selective abortion, an ageing population and a shrinking workforce, so the policy was abandoned [1]. Pro-natalist policies — measures to raise the birth rate, such as France’s or Singapore’s financial incentives, tax allowances and subsidised childcare [1] [1]; the problem is that they are expensive and have limited effect, since the decision to have children depends more on housing costs and career considerations than on a payment [1]. Immigration policy — encouraging migration to fill labour shortages, as in Germany’s recruitment of workers [1] [1]; problems include pressure on housing and services and political and social tension if integration is not managed [1].

5. The settlement hierarchy ranks settlements by size and by the range of services they provide [1] — from isolated dwelling and hamlet, through village and town, to city and conurbation; as size increases, the number of settlements falls but the range of services rises [1] [1]. Sphere of influence is the area served by a settlement — the area from which people travel to use its services [1]; larger settlements have larger spheres [1]. Threshold population is the minimum number of people required to make a service viable [1]; a newsagent has a low threshold and is found in villages, while a hospital or university has a very high threshold and is found only in large cities [1].

6. A typical pattern is the Central Business District at the core, surrounded by an inner city zone of older terraced housing and former industry, then inter-war suburbs, then modern outer suburbs and the rural-urban fringe [1] [1] [1] [1]. Reasons, any two: land values are highest at the centre, because accessibility is greatest, so only high-value uses such as shops and offices can afford it, and buildings are built upwards to make the most of the small plots [1] [1]. The city grew outwards over time, so housing age and style decrease with distance from the centre, and the outer suburbs were built when cars allowed people to live further from work [1] [1]. The fringe offers cheap, plentiful land with good road access, which attracts retail parks, warehousing and business parks that need space and lorry access [1] [1].

7. Push factors are negative conditions that drive people to leave their home area, e.g. unemployment or poverty, and conflict, persecution or natural disaster [1] [1]. Pull factors are positive conditions that attract people to a destination, e.g. available jobs and higher wages, and better services, greater safety, or family already settled there [1] [1].

8. (a) Receiving country — benefit: migration fills labour shortages and often brings a younger, tax-paying workforce and cultural diversity [1] [1]; cost: it puts added pressure on housing and services and can create social tension [1] [1]. (b) Source country — benefit: the country gains remittances sent home, reduced local unemployment, and skills brought back by returning migrants [1] [1]; cost: it risks brain drain — the loss of working-age and skilled people — and family separation [1] [1].

9. Site is the actual physical land a settlement occupies, e.g. a defensible hilltop, or a dry point above a floodplain [1] [1]. Situation is the settlement’s position relative to surrounding features and other settlements, e.g. at the confluence of two rivers, or on a trade route between two larger cities [1] [1].

10. Rapid urban growth from rural–urban migration combined with high natural increase among young migrants outpaces the ability of city authorities to provide housing and services [1] [1], so migrants settle informally on unused or unsuitable land, building makeshift housing without legal tenure, sanitation or a clean water supply [1] [1], producing informal settlements, congestion, pollution and strain on existing services [1] [1]. One strategy: site-and-service schemes, in which the local authority provides a plot of land with basic services already installed — water, electricity, road access — and residents then build and improve their own home over time [1] [1] (accept self-help housing schemes, or rural development aimed at reducing the push factors driving migration to the city).

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Where marks are usually lost

• Describing a pyramid’s shape without explaining the reason.
• Giving the one-child policy without any of its consequences.
• Confusing threshold population with sphere of influence.
• Listing land-use zones without explaining the pattern.

A note on the syllabus successor

These questions are written against the 2025-2026 series of Cambridge IGCSE Geography 0460. Only the November 2026 series still sits on that syllabus. A successor syllabus for the 2027-2029 series has already been published and restructures the qualification significantly: the three themes become ten topics, the first two papers are renamed and reweighted from Themes and Skills to Physical and Human Geography at 36% each, and the alternative-to-coursework paper is also renamed. This set has not yet been re-based onto the successor syllabus. Official syllabus for 2025-2026 | successor syllabus for 2027-2029.