FERTILITY RATE DATA
FERTILITY RATE DATA
PM has flagged ‘challenges’ posed by India’s ‘population explosion’.
While India is expected to soon overtake China as the world’s most populous country, the total fertility rate has been falling almost everywhere in India
FERTILITY RATE DATA graph (below) shows trends for the total fertility rate (TFR) in various states. TFR, defined as the number of children born to a woman until the end of her child-bearing age, is a key indicator for population trend

FERTILITY RATE DATA
- The latest SRS estimates (2017) show the TFR dropping to 2.2. This figure is only marginally higher than the fertility rate (2.1) required for replacement of the existing population.
- Even the states that have a higher TFR — Uttar Pradesh (3.0), Bihar (3.2), MP (2.7), Rajasthan (2.6), Assam (2.3), Chhattisgarh (2.4) and Jharkhand (2.5) — have been witnessing a declining trend in fertility rates. These seven states account for about 45 % of the total population in the 2011 Census.
- Two more states, Gujarat and Haryana, recorded a TFR of 2.2, which is above the replacement rate but is equal to the national average. Taken together, these nine major states account for 52 % of the 2011 population.
- This means that in the states barring these nine, and accounting for almost half the population, the replacement level is either 2.1 or has gone below it.
- FERTILITY RATE DATA states with a lower TFR include Kerala (1.7), Tamil Nadu (1.6), Karnataka (1.7), Maharashtra (1.7), Andhra Pradesh (1.6), Telangana (1.7), West Bengal (1.6), Jammu and Kashmir (1.6) and Odisha (1.9).
FERTILITY RATE DATA
- Total fertility rate (TFR) is defined as the number of children born to a woman until the end of her child-bearing age, is a key indicator for population trends.
- The Sample Registration System (SRS) is undertaken by the Office of the Registrar General of India
- SRS looks at other indicators such as crude birth rate, general fertility rate, age specific/marital fertility rate, gross reproduction rate along with sex ratio at birth.
- While Census figures provide the total population every decade, the regular SRS estimates provide dynamic trends underlying the population growth.
Image Credits: https://www.timesnownews.com/mirror-now/in-focus/article/india-to-overtake-china-as-the-most-populous-country-in-less-than-a-decade/438852
Source: Indian Express