Islam, Judaism, and Christianity (which was ultimately derived from Judaism) originated in the Middle East and can be eliminated as possible answer choices. While both Hinduism and Buddhism originated in South Asia, the spread of Buddhism to Southeast Asia was catalyzed by merchants and settlers traveling to Southeast Asia as well as religious emissaries sent by leaders (like King Asoka) to help spread the word about Buddha's teachings.

A cultural hearth is a location at which new ideas arise and are then spread. The religion of Christianity began in Jerusalem, making Jerusalem the cultural hearth of the religion. After starting in Jerusalem, Christianity spread through the region by hierarchical diffusion. This hierarchical diffusion encompassed the locations described in the remaining answer choices.

The repeal of apartheid, or laws governing the physical separation of people of different races, occurred in the nation of South Africa in 1991.

A “multinational state” is a state that is comprised of more than one nationality. More specifically it is a state in which those various nationalities agree to coexist as one political unit for mutual benefit. In the United Kingdom the English, the Scottish, the Welsh, and the Northern Irish are all distinct nationalities with a long history who have peacefully (for the most part) coexisted for a long time.

A “ghetto” is an area of a city in which people of an ethnic minority are confined either by official government policy or by economic and social obstacles that make it difficult for people of that ethnicity to exist outside of the ghetto. It has been a common experience of African-Americans in the United States since the end of the Civil War.

Although the term “diaspora” can be used to describe any dispersion of people from their original homeland around the world, it is most commonly applied to the Jewish people. Before the creation of Israel, in 1947, almost all of the world’s Jews lived in communities in Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas, yet they retained their cultural and religious traditions and preserved their ethnic differences.

In raw numbers, the population of Latin Americans is growing the fastest. But, in terms of percentage the fastest growing ethnicity is Asian Americans. The number of Asian Americans grows by about three percent each year, while the number of Latin Americans grows by about two percent.

Unlike most Western European countries the influence of religious culture on America has remained fairly powerful and consistent in the last two decades, so we can rule out these two answer choices. The United States has seen a considerable increase in its ethnic diversity in the last two decades. In the 1990s immigration laws were fairly lenient and a great number of immigrants arrived from East Asia, South Asia, and Latin America. These new arrivals have had children in far greater numbers than the majority white population, contributing to a considerable increase in ethnic diversity in the United States.

Of these countries by far the most immigrants arrive from Mexico, mostly into the southwest of the United States although Mexican-Americans are well dispersed around much of the United States. As of 2013,  immigrants from Mexico were living in the United States, which accounted for over  of all immigrants living in America.

Generally men score higher than women in almost all areas of gender inequality around the world, although this is becoming less and less the case in the developed world. The only category in which women routinely score higher than men throughout the majority of the world is in life expectancy. Women, in almost all areas of the world, regardless of income levels and levels of education, outlive men.