A survey was conducted about the population of a particular region having working population of three lacs and information was collected about self-employed persons, casual wage workers, regular salaries employees of both urban and rural areas of the region. Self-employment is a key source of income in both rural and urban areas but it is more prevalent in rural areas (56% of the rural population) than in urban areas (40% of the urban population). Rural population was 48% of the total population. Regular salaried workers in urban areas were 48% of the urban population whereas in rural areas, regular salaried workers constituted 12% of the rural population. During the survey, the casual wage workers were found to be more common in rural areas than in urban areas. Casual wage workers in rural areas were 32% of the rural population whereas it was 12% of the urban population in urban areas.

By what percentage the number of self-employed workers in rural areas is more than the number of self-employed workers in urban areas?

The correct option is 29.23.

Let us break down the given information step-by-step to find the required percentage.

Step 1: Calculate the total rural and urban population.

Total working population = 3 lacs = 3,00,000

Rural population percentage = 48% of the total population

$\text{Rural population}=\frac{48}{100}\times \mathrm{3,00,000}=\mathrm{1,44,000}$

Urban population percentage = 100% - 48% = 52% of the total population

$\text{Urban population}=\frac{52}{100}\times \mathrm{3,00,000}=\mathrm{1,56,000}$

Step 2: Calculate the number of self-employed workers in rural and urban areas.

Self-employed workers in rural areas = 56% of the rural population

$\text{Rural self-employed}=\frac{56}{100}\times \mathrm{1,44,000}=\mathrm{80,640}$

Self-employed workers in urban areas = 40% of the urban population

$\text{Urban self-employed}=\frac{40}{100}\times \mathrm{1,56,000}=\mathrm{62,400}$

Step 3: Calculate the required percentage increase.

We need to find by what percentage the number of self-employed workers in rural areas is more than that in urban areas:

$\text{Difference}=\mathrm{80,640}-\mathrm{62,400}=\mathrm{18,240}$

$\text{Percentage increase}=\left(\frac{\mathrm{18,240}}{\mathrm{62,400}}\right)\times 100$

$\text{Percentage increase}=\frac{1824}{62.4}\approx 29.23\%$

Thus, the number of self-employed workers in rural areas is 29.23% more than the number of self-employed workers in urban areas.