JAMB Economics 2025 past questions

Checked by the Skolra question team · Last updated 23 October 2026

Ten questions from the 2025 JAMB Economics paper, with answers and explanations. We hold 73 questions from this paper, and the Skolra app has all of them.

JAMB Economics 2025 questions and answers

1. 1.

   Which of the following statements is not a feature of a monopoly?

   1. A
      High barriers to entry restrict the entry of new firms into the market
   2. B
      Many close substitutes exist for the product sold by the firm
      Correct
   3. C
      The firm is a price maker rather than a price taker
   4. D
      A single seller controls the entire market supply of the product
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: B

   Recognised features of a monopoly include: a single seller who controls the entire market supply; strong barriers (legal, natural or economic) that keep new firms out; and the firm being a price maker because it faces the whole market demand curve alone, not a price taker.

2. 2.

   Which of the following is necessary for the survival of small firms in West Africa?

   1. A
      Merger with large-scale firms in the same industry
   2. B
      Heavy taxation to fund large-scale industrialisation
   3. C
      Unrestricted competition with multinational corporations
   4. D
      Government assistance through subsidies, credit facilities and protective policies
      Correct
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: D

   Small firms in West Africa are typically starved of capital, have weak bargaining power, and cannot compete on cost with large-scale and multinational producers. This is why government assistance through subsidies, credit facilities and protective policies (such as low-interest loans, tax relief, tariff protection and provision of infrastructure) is what economics texts identify as necessary for their survival.

3. 3.

   In determining the growth of a country's population, infant mortality is a component of

   1. A
      Dependency ratio
   2. B
      Death rate
      Correct
   3. C
      Fertility rate
   4. D
      Net migration
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: B

   Population growth is determined by three components: the birth rate, the death rate (mortality rate), and net migration. Infant mortality (the rate at which infants die before their first birthday) is one of the specific measures used to calculate the overall death rate of a population, so it falls under the death rate as a component of population growth.

4. 4.

   When the death rate for old people and the infant mortality rate are high, with no migration, there will be in the population a
   higher number of

   1. A
      Persons above sixty years of age
   2. B
      Adults in the working-age group
      Correct
   3. C
      Migrant workers from rural areas
   4. D
      Children under five years of age
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: B

   Answer: adults in the working-age group will be higher in number (proportionally) in this population.

   With no migration, a country's age structure depends only on births and deaths. Here, two mortality forces are named: a high death rate for old people, and a high infant mortality rate. Both of these thin out the two extreme ends of the population pyramid — the very young and the very old.

5. 5.

   The poorer the country, the larger the percentage of labour force engaged in

   1. A
      manufacturing and industry
   2. B
      the civil service
   3. C
      agriculture
      Correct
   4. D
      commerce and trade
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: C

   This is a basic fact of development economics that appears often in the WAEC/JAMB economics syllabus on economic development.

6. 6.

   Which of the following will shift the demand curve for cocoa to the right?

   1. A
      An increase in the price of a close substitute for cocoa
      Correct
   2. B
      A decrease in the income of cocoa consumers
   3. C
      An increase in the price of a good that is complementary to cocoa
   4. D
      A fall in the price of cocoa itself
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: A

   The demand curve for cocoa shifts to the right when something other than cocoa's own price makes buyers want more of it at every price level.

   If the price of a close substitute (say coffee) rises, buyers switch away from the now relatively expensive substitute towards cocoa, so demand for cocoa rises at every price — this shifts the whole curve rightward. This is the correct answer.

7. 7.

   Which of the following forms of economic integration is a member nation free to impose duty against non-members

   1. A
      Customs union
   2. B
      Economic union
   3. C
      Free trade area
      Correct
   4. D
      Common market
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: C

   The straight answer: a free trade area is correct.

   So the key distinguishing feature is: free trade area = internal tariffs removed, but each member still controls its own external tariff. That freedom disappears from the customs union stage onward.

8. 8.

   An indication that there is inflation in a country is that

   1. A
      the general price level of goods and services falls persistently over time
   2. B
      the rate of unemployment falls persistently over time
   3. C
      the general price level of goods and services rises persistently over time
      Correct
   4. D
      the value of money increases persistently over time
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: C

   Inflation is defined as a persistent (sustained) rise in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. So the option that says the general price level rises persistently is the correct indication of inflation.

   The option describing prices falling persistently describes the opposite situation, deflation, not inflation.

9. 9.

   Cheques are not money because?

   1. A
      They are not scarce enough to hold their value
   2. B
      Their acceptance in payment is not backed by law
      Correct
   3. C
      They are not durable enough to serve as a store of value
   4. D
      They cannot be divided into smaller units of value
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: B

   Cheques are not money because their acceptance in payment is not backed by law.

   So the correct reasoning is the legal one: cheques lack legal tender status, hence their acceptance is a matter of choice, not law.

10. 10.

    The following are reasons for the failure of agricultural policies in West Africa except

    1. A
       Poor implementation and corruption in the execution of agricultural programmes
    2. B
       Regular provision of subsidized farm inputs and credit facilities to farmers
       Correct
    3. C
       A land tenure system that discourages large-scale mechanized farming
    4. D
       Inadequate rural infrastructure such as roads and storage facilities
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: B

    This is an "except" question, so we need the option that is not a genuine cause of agricultural policy failure in West Africa.

    However, regular provision of subsidized farm inputs and credit facilities to farmers is not a cause of failure at all — it is exactly the kind of support policy that helps agriculture succeed. Where this has actually happened consistently, it has improved output rather than caused failure. That is why it is the correct answer to an "except" question about reasons for failure.

The questions come from past JAMB, WAEC and NECO papers. We use software to help write the answer options and explanations, and every answer is checked twice before it goes on the site. How we check

Spotted a wrong answer? Tell us from the app or on the contact page and we check it.

Practise all 73 questions we hold from the 2025 paper, on a timed CBT screen

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