31 out of 36 states/UTs have achieved target of stabilising population | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Thirty-one of the country’s 36 states have achieved a fertility replacement level of 2.1, the average number of children per woman needed to maintain a stable population size. Only five states — Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Manipur — continued to have higher-than-desirable fertility replacement levels, government data shows.
On World Population Day on Thursday, Health Minister JP Nadda and Minister of State (Mos) for Health Anupriya Patel said targeted intervention was needed in states with high total number of Fertility rate (TFR) or children per woman. “The aim of Viksit Bharat (developed India) can only be achieved if the health of Indian families is well maintained, which can be achieved by having smaller families,” Nadda said.
MoS Patel said that over 65% of India’s population falls in the reproductive age group, making it pertinent to ensure that they are given choices and are not burdened with unplanned family expansion. The expansion of the family planning program of the federal government, she stated that “while it was previously a two-phase 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 yielded results with 31 out of 36 states/UTs now achieving TFR replacement level. She encouraged UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Manipur to undertake concerted activities to bring down TFR. “It is also heartening to note that the uptake of modern contraceptives in the country has increased to over 56%,” she added.
Health Minister Apurva Chandra, Additional Secretary and Mission Director (National Health Mission) Aradhana Patnaik and representatives of states and senior officials of the Health Ministry also participated in Thursday’s virtual meeting, which was chaired by the Health Minister.
In 1950, India had a TFR of 6.18, which declined to 4.60 in 1980. In 2021, the TFR declined 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 India’s TFR will drop to 1.29 by 2050. Poonam Mutreja, Executive Director of the Population Fund of India (PFI) stated that as countries develop economically, the costs of raising children increase, leading families to have fewer children.
“Increased education and empowerment of women are resulting in higher career aspirations and delayed marriages and childbirth, further contributing to a decline in TFR. Other reasons for this trend include urbanisation, 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.