Decline in Total Fertility Rate

The Total Fertility Rate (TFR), an average number of children per woman, has further declined from 2.2 to 2.0 at the national level between National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 4 and 5.

Total fertility rate (TFR):

• According to MOSPI,Total fertility rate (TFR) is defined as the average number of children that would be born to a woman if she experiences the current fertility pattern throughout her reproductive span (15-49 years). 
• The fertility rate has declined across the majority of the states.
• All states MP, Rajasthan, UP, Jharkhand, Bihar, Manipur and Meghalaya have attained a replacement level of 2.1.

Reasons for demographic transition:

• Introduction of initiatives like contraception
• Government health and family welfare schemes
• Special emphasis on education of the girl child
• Exponential growth of institutional births
• Overall improvement in health and nutrition

Key highlights of the survey:

• There are only five States in India which are above replacement level of fertility of 2.1 - Bihar (2.98), Meghalaya (2.91), Uttar Pradesh (2.35), Jharkhand (2.26) Manipur (2.17), as per the national report of the NFHS-5.
• Institutional births have increased from 79% to 89% in India and in rural areas around 87% births being delivered in institutions and the same is 94% in urban areas.
• As per results of the NFHS-5, more than three-fourths (77%) children age 12-23 months were fully immunised, compared with 62% in NFHS-4.
• The level of stunting among children under five years has marginally declined from 38% to 36% in the country since the last four years.
• Stunting is higher among children in rural areas (37%) than urban areas (30%) in 2019-21.
• NFHS-5 shows an overall improvement in Sustainable Development Goals indicators in all States/Union Territories (UTs).
  • The extent to which married women usually participate in three household decisions (about health care for herself; making major household purchases; visit to her family or relatives) 
• Participation in decision-making is high, ranging from 80% in Ladakh to 99% in Nagaland and Mizoram.
  • Rural (77%) and urban (81%) differences are found to be marginal.
  • The prevalence of women having a bank or savings account that they use has increased from 53% to 79% in the last four years.
• Compared with NFHS-4, the prevalence of overweight or obesity has increased in most States/UTs in NFHS-5.
  • At the national level, it increased from 21% to 24% among women and 19% to 23% among men.