In the 1960s, India had a fertility rate of 5.92. This means that, on average, a woman would bear almost six children if she lived through her childbearing years. This figure was significantly higher than the ‘replacement level’ needed to maintain a stable population.
Fast-forward to today, and there has been a significant decline in the fertility rate. According to the latest data, the fertility rate has dropped to 2, in 2023, which is just 0.1 point below the required replacement level (the average number of children a woman needs to have to replace herself and her generation). However, experts warn that even this small difference could eventually lead to a population decline.
This drop in fertility rate can be because of various reasons, apart from the sheer rise in couples who don’t want to have kids. Apart from this, both data and experts suggest that there has been a clear increase in infertility amongst Indians.