UGC NET Geography Q49

Question

Read the following passage and answer the question:
Landlocked countries, regions with diseases that are difficult to control or cure, and areas that are very far from major markets for their goods are all at a developmental disadvantage and this disadvantage was probably greater in an earlier era, when medical knowledge was limited and transportation and communications costs were much higher. By virtue of weather and disease, tropical environments in particular may be less conducive to urbanization and industrialization than temperate zones. Some scholars ascribe a substantial portion of the developmental problems of tropical regions like sub-Saharan Africa, for example, to geography itself.
But geographic factors cannot be the whole story, as there is a great deal of variation among countries within the same regions. Indeed, if we compare less developed countries - that have very similar geographic characteristics, we find that some have done extremely well, while others have done very poorly. While the climate and geography of a nation shape its development, they do so by way of its impact on the people, social structures, politics, and policies of the nation.
Given below are two statements:
Statement I: All countries in the tropical region have performed very poorly in terms of development.
Statement II: Tropical regions seem to have disease prone environments.
In the light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below:

Accepted Answer

Statement I is false but Statement II is true.