Three large Hindi-speaking states have high fertility rates: UNFPA

Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab had a fertility rate of 1.7, and for Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra, it was 1.8, according to NITI Aayog.

The report said that unintended pregnancies contribute to higher fertility rates. (Source: File Photo)

There is a stark contrast between the fertility rates of the three largest Hindi-speaking states and six non-Hindi-speaking states even as India was nearing the population replacement level of fertility, a UN report shows. “Although average total fertility (rate) for the whole country is 2.3 births per woman, it is above 3.0 in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, and below replacement level in Maharashtra and West Bengal, and the four southern-most states,” according to “The State of World Population 2018” report issued by the UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA).

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In South Asia, Pakistan has the highest fertility rate of 3.3 children per women, while Bhutan, Maldives, and Sri Lanka with two children per women have dipped below the replacement level and Bangladesh and Nepal are at the mark with 2.1 children per women, the report found. The replacement-level fertility rate, which is the average number of children a woman has to have to keep population at a constant size, is 2.1 and India is closing in with the overall the number of children per woman at 2.3.

If women in a nation or a region or a group have fewer than 2.1 children each, its population will go down over time, while those whose women have more than that will see their population continue to rise. There is a marked difference between urban and rural areas and urban India’s fertility rate reached the replacement level in 2007, said the report with the theme of “Power of Choice”. The UNFPA report did not give the fertility rates for individual states, but among states for which NITI Aayog provided data for 2016, Bihar had the highest in India of 3.3 children per woman, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 3.1.

There is, however, a contradiction in the number for Madhya Pradesh: While the UNFPA report included it among states with fertility rate was “above 3”, NITI Aayog said it was only 2.8 for the state, although it was still above the replacement level. In addition to the six states mentioned in the UNFPA report, several others, including Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab and Kashmir, also had low fertility rates according to to NITI Aayog.

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