NEW DELHI: The fertility rate among younger women in India is showing a downward slide while it is consistently increasing among women 30 years and older, data for the past five years of the Sample Registration System (SRS) survey has revealed.
The Age Specific Fertility Rate (ASFR), or the births per 1,000 women categorised age wise, for the years from 2014 to 2018, shows a record low in the fertility — 122.4 — of women in the age group of 20-24. The fertility rate in 15-19 years, which was 27.3 in 2014, has also come down to 12.2 in 2018.
Even in the age group of 25-29 years, during which women reach their peak fertility, the number registered, 146.4, was the second lowest in the past five years. In 2014, it was recorded at 143.7, when the fertility rate of women was highest in the 20-24 age group, 174.9.
There are likely to be many reasons behind the falling fertility rates among younger women, it could signal an increase in educational and employment opportunities, better healthcare that has brought down child mortality and better access to contraceptives.
The same reasons could also explain why fertility of women aged 30 and over is simultaneously increasing. The latest SRS data shows that fertility rate for women in the age groups of 30-34 years, 35-39, 40-44 and 45-49 was at a record high of five years in 2018.
Overall, the fall in fertility levels of younger women seems to have been propelled by very perceptible changes in more populous states such as Bihar, which has consistently been at the top of the ASFR chart.
Bihar was the only state to register a fertility of over 200 in the 25-29 age group.
At the same time, just as per national trend, fertility rates among its women aged 30 years and older is showing a constant increase and is its peak in 2018. The same is true for other populous states like MP and UP, and in metropolitan cities like Delhi.