The Demand Curve — Demand | IGCSE Economics

Exam Frequency Analysis

Past paper frequency (2018 to 2024)

This topic accounts for approximately 20% of your exam marks.

stable

Very High

Stable20%

Demand is the single highest-frequency topic; demand definition, curve shifts, and factors appear on virtually every Paper 2, typically worth 10 to 18 marks.

Demand curve: downward-sloping price-quantity relationship; movement along it shows contraction and extension

A demand curve plots the quantity of a good consumers are willing and able to buy (horizontal axis) against the price (vertical axis). In practice, IGCSE diagrams use a straight line that slopes downward from upper-left to lower-right, even though real data would form a curve. The straight-line shortcut makes the diagram easier to draw and read.

Standard layout of every demand-curve diagram in the exam.

Vertical axis: price (usually in £ or $ per unit).
Horizontal axis: quantity demanded per period (e.g. units per week).
Curve label: D for the demand curve. Shifts to D₁ (right) or D₂ (left) when the curve moves.