Question

A zoo in Kerala houses 20 tigers, out of which 8 died due to a contagious disease in the previous year. The death rate of the tigers in this population in the previous year was _____________.

• A. 4%
• B. 25%
• C. 40%
• D. 25%

Answer 1

The correct option is C 40%

Death rate of a population is the number of deaths per capita. It is calculated as the number of deaths with respect to the initial number of individuals of the population. Mortality, on the other hand, refers to the total number of deaths in the population in a given time period.

$\mathrm{Death}\mathrm{Rate}=\frac{\mathrm{No}.\mathrm{of}\mathrm{deaths}}{\mathrm{Initial}\mathrm{Population}}\times 100$

Initial size of the population of tigers in the zoo = 20

Number of tigers who died in a year, i.e. mortality of the population = 8

$\mathrm{Death}\mathrm{Rate}=\frac{8}{20}\times 100=40\%$

Thus, the death rate of the population is 40% per year.