Question

The table below lists the populations and the areas for the 10 U.S. states having the least population density (number of people per square mile).

A table with state as first column, population in thousands as second column and area in thousands of square miles as third column. Alaska has a population of 730 and an area of 572. Wyoming has a population of 576 and an area of 97. Montana has a population of 1,005 and an area of 146. North Dakota has a population of 700 and an area of 69. South Dakota has a population of 833 and an area of 69. New Mexico has a population of 2,086 and an area of 121. Idaho has a population of 1,596 and an area of 83. Nebraska has a population of 1,856 and an area of 77. Nevada has a population of 2,759 and an area of 110. Utah has a population of 2,855 and an area of 82.

Which of these countries has a population density less than the average population density of the 10 U.S. states listed in the table?

Choose all that are correct.

A.
Laos, which has an area of 89,112 square miles and a population of 6,368,481.

B.
Saudi Arabia, which has an area of 829,995 square miles and a population of 27,019,731.

C.
Canada, which has an area of 3,560,217 square miles and a population of 33,098,932.

D.
Iceland, which has an area of 38,707 square miles and a population of 299,388.

E.
Turkey, which has an area of 297,591 square miles and a population of 70,413,958.

Answer 1

Answer: C and D.

Work (concise):
- Total for the 10 states: population = 14,996,000; area = 1,426,000 sq mi → overall density ≈ 14,996,000/1,426,000 ≈ 10.52 people/sq mi (the mean of the 10 state densities is ≈15.68, which gives the same comparison outcome).
- Country densities:
- A Laos: 6,368,481 / 89,112 ≈ 71.5
- B Saudi Arabia: 27,019,731 / 829,995 ≈ 32.6
- C Canada: 33,098,932 / 3,560,217 ≈ 9.3
- D Iceland: 299,388 / 38,707 ≈ 7.7
- E Turkey: 70,413,958 / 297,591 ≈ 236.8

Only Canada and Iceland have densities below the average, so choices C and D.