31 of 36 states/UTs have met goal to stabilise population | India News

NEW DELHI: Thirty-one out of 36 states in the country have achieved a replacement level of fertility of 2.1, the average number of children per woman needed to maintain a stable population size. Only five states, namely Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Manipur, continued to have a higher than the desired replacement level of fertility, govt data shows.
On World Population Day on Thursday, union health minister J P Nadda and minister of state (Mos) for health Anupriya Patel said targeted intervention in states with high Total Fertility Rate (TFR) or children per woman.“The goal of Viksit Bharat (developed India) can only be achieved when the health of India’s families is well maintained which can be achieved by smaller families,” Nadda said.
MoS Patel said that more than 65% of India’s population falls in the reproductive age group which makes it pertinent to ensure that they are provided with choices and not burdened with unplanned family growth. Highlighting the expansion of the family planning program by the Union Government, she stated that “while earlier it used to be a two-phased program, it has now been expanded to three phases: preparatory phase, community participation and service delivery.”
Patel said seven decades of family programme activities have shown results where 31 of 36 states/UTs have now reached the replacement level of TFR. She encouraged UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Manipur to take up concerted activities to bring down the TFR. “It is also encouraging to note that the acceptance of modern contraceptives in the country has increased to over 56%”, she added.
Union health secretary Apurva Chandra, additional secretary and mission director (National Health Mission) Aradhana Patnaik and representatives from states and senior officials of the union health ministry also participated in Thursday’s virtual meeting that was chaired by the health minister.
In 1950, India had a TFR of 6.18 which reduced to 4.60 in 1980 and in 2021, the TFR reduced further to 1.91 which is below the replacement level or the average number of children per woman needed to maintain a stable population size.
Recently, a study published in the journal claimed that by 2050, India’s TFR will reduce to 1.29. Poonam Mutreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India (PFI), said as countries develop economically, the cost of raising children increases, leading families to have fewer children.
Increased education and empowerment of women result in greater career aspirations and delayed marriages and childbirth, further contributing to a decline in the TFR. Other reasons for this trend include urbanization, improved access to family planning and contraception, and a shift in social norms and values towards smaller family sizes,” she told TOI in a recent interview.