Recently, Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have raised concerns about the low fertility rates, slowing population growth in their respective states.

Fertility Rate in India

• NFHS-5 in 2019-21 showed a decline in Total Fertility Rate (TFR) to 2.0, with TFR being the average number of children born to women during their child-bearing years.
  • This is below replacement level fertility of 2.1, at which population can maintain its size across generations.
• Decrease in fertility rates is not uniform across India with southern States and smaller northern States seeing a much sharper decrease in TFR.
  • For instance, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have TFR of 1.4 and 1.5 respectively, while Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have TFR of 2.7 and 3 respectively.

Factors behind declining fertility rates

• Family Planning: Implementation of family planning policies and increase in its demand among married women from 66% in 2015-16 (NFHS-4) to 76% in 2019-21 (NFHS-5).
• Educational Empowerment of Women: Consequent increase in labour market participation led to a higher opportunity cost for having more children.
• Increasing Living Costs: Concerns about increasing cost of living and housing become barrier to having more children.