Dependency Ratio is a measure showing the number of dependents in the age group of 0-14 and over the age of 65 to the total population.

Dependency ratio is higher in India because:

• India's youth population is relatively higher but the inability of educated youth to find jobs makes them depend on their working parents.
• In India, old parents generally live with their children than they do elsewhere in the world and thus they are dependent on them for their basic requirements.

A fall in dependency ratio or benefit flowing from changing age structure. Demographic dividend refers to a period – usually 20 to 30 years – when fertility rates fall due to significant reductions in child . Demographic dividend is the period when the rates of fertility come down due to great curtailment in the child and infant mortality ratios. This period usually lasts for twenty to thirty years. As families and women start to realize that fewer children would die during childhood or infancy, they begin to produce fewer children so that the desired number of offspring is reached. This further reduces the proportion of dependents that are non-productive. This reduction is coincided by an increase in the average life expectancy which raises the portion of the working age-group population.

Falling dependency ratio can be a source of economic growth and prosperity due to larger proportion of workers relative to non-workers.
This is also referred to as Demographic Dividend.

• Counter movements sometimes arise in defence of status quo. There are many instances of counter movements.
• When Raja Rammohun Roy campaigned against sati and formed the Brahmo Samaj, defenders of sati formed Dharma Sabha and petitioned the British not to legislate against sati.
• When reformers demanded education for girls, many protested that this would be disastrous for society.
• When reformers campaigned for widow remarriage, they were socially boycotted. When the so called ‘lower caste’ children enrolled in schools, some so called ‘upper caste’ children were withdrawn from the schools by their families.
• Proposals for extending reservation in educational institutions have led to counter movements opposing them.

Theory of demographic transition indicates the changes in birth and death rate that leads o growth rate of population.
First stage is the high population growth potential stage, second stage is the population explosion stage, third stage is the population stage where the population continues to grow at a faster rate. Finally fourth stage is the population stationary stage.

Sociology is a science of society. As a social science it attempts to study social life as a whole. But for the understanding of social life as a whole sociology requires the help of other social sciences which studies a particular aspect of society. Economics studies the economic aspects whereas political science studies political aspects.

The following arguments justify the given statement
(i) Since 1981, the growth rate started declining.
(ii) During this period, birth rates declined rapidly.
(iii) Still 182 million people were added in the 1990s.
(iv) When low annual rate is applied to a very large population, it yields a large absolute increase.
(v) When more than a billion people increase even at a lower rate, the total number being added becomes very huge.
Thus, it can be concluded that despite the declining trend of growth rate, the population of India is increasing at fast rate.