THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala’s Gen Z women are having half the babies that women of the same age group had a decade ago. An analysis of the Vital Statistics Report 2024 from the Directorate of Economics and Statistics throws light into the demographic picture of a state where births are falling, deaths rising and the age of motherhood showing an upward trend.
The state registered 3,44,766 live births in 2024, a fall of 48,465 from the previous year. This is the second highest year-on-year decline in the decade, only after 2023 when the drop was 49,801.
The Crude Birth Rate, total births per 1000 population, fell to 9.64 in 2024 from the previous year’s 11.06. The Total Fertility Rate came down to 1.19 from 1.35, the lowest on record and well below the replacement level of 2.1.
All districts in the state recorded a decline in births over the decade. Alappuzha saw the steepest fall when births dropped 44.7%, from 20,639 in 2014 to 11,419 in 2024.
The Gen Z factor
Women in their early twenties, the heart of Generation Z, are having fewer children than their predecessors. The fertility rate (number of live births per 1,000 population) among women aged 20 to 24 fell from 132.12 per 1,000 women in 2014 to 61.27 in 2024, a decline of over 53% in a decade. In real numbers, births to women in this age group more than halved, from 2,05,652 to 88,674. Even year on year showed a sharp decline in fertility rate - from 73.42 in 2023 to 61.27 in 2024.
The age profile of mothers saw a significant shift in the decade. Women aged 25-29 now account for 38.6% of all births, up from 16.8% in 2014. The 30-34 age group rose from 4.2% to 23.9%. Among first-time mothers, the gap between the 20-24 group (39.95 %) and the 25-29 group (39.22%) has narrowed. It was 15 percentage points in 2019. At this pace, late twenties may overtake early twenties as the most common age of first-time mothers next year.
The number of couples having their first child within four years of marriage declined from 92.94% in 2014 to 84.86% in 2024. Those who have their first child in five to nine years rose from 5.60% to 11.80%, and those in 10 to 14 years from 1.03% to 2.33%.
Rising deaths
The number of deaths in 2024 was 3,13,553, up from the previous year’s 3,04,286. The Crude Death Rate rose to 8.77 from 8.56. Kottayam recorded the highest death rate, 12.39 per 1000 population.
