Despite India’s overall decline in fertility rates, there are significant regional differences, with five states still failing to reach replacement-level fertility of 2.1 — the rate at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next — according to the National Family Health Survey-5.
According to the NFHS-5 survey performed between 2019 and 21, these states include Bihar (2.98), Meghalaya (2.91), Uttar Pradesh (2.35), Jharkhand (2.26), and Manipur (2.17).
According to the research, India has made tremendous success in recent years in population control efforts, with Total Fertility Rates (TFR), or the average number of children per woman, falling from 2.2 to 2 at the national level between NFHS-4 and 5.
“Considering the large population size and substantial demographic diversity in the country, context-specific policy and programs will be needed for states transiting through different stages of the demographic transition,” said Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director of the Population Foundation of India.
The TFR decreased from 3.4 to 2 between 1992-93 to 2019-21. TFR for rural women has dropped from 3.7 in 1992-93 to 2.1 in 2019-21. Women in metropolitan areas saw a similar drop from 2.7 to 1.6.
The TFR ranges from 1.4 children per woman among Buddhists/Neo-Buddhists to 2.4 children per woman among Muslims. According to NFHS-5, the Muslim community has the highest fertility rate, followed by the Hindu community at 1.94.
