China's population is about 1.3 billion. What trend is described?

• A. 1.3 billion; growth is accelerating
• B. 1.3 billion; growth is slowing
• C. 1.3 billion; growth is steady
• D. 0.8 billion; growth is slowing

Answer: (B)

At the heart of this question is how population size changes over time when birth rates fall. China is home to about 1.3 billion people, but the rate at which the population grows has been dropping. Birth rates have declined toward or below what’s needed to replace the population, and the country is aging, so fewer people are being added each year even though the total remains very large. That combination means the overall growth is slowing, not accelerating or staying exactly the same.

Why the other ideas don’t fit: if growth were accelerating, we'd expect birth rates to rise or the population to increase more quickly, which isn’t the current pattern. If growth were steady, the annual increase would remain roughly constant, but the birth-rate decline means the annual increase is shrinking. The number 0.8 billion is simply inaccurate for China’s population today.