Asmall country in europe has been experiencing population growth that can be modeled by the equation y=120,000(1.042)^x where y is the population of the country and x is the number of years since 2010. what is the percent change in the population of the country each year?

I think it is a 4.2% increase every year since this appears to be an exponential growth expression which are defined as y=y₀(1+r)^x. In that equation r is the rate so it would make sense to me that 4.3% is the correct answer since 1+0.042=1.042.

I hope this helps.  feel free to let me know in the comments if anything is unclear to you.