NEW DELHI: Highlighting that Total Fertility Rate (TFR) for the country has further declined to reach 1.9 in 2023 against 2.0 in the previous year and stays well below the replacement level fertility of 2.1 births per woman, the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical report 2023 shows TFR for rural India for the first time touched 2.1 – the replacement rate, where one generation replaces itself, leading to population stability.Rates above replacement rate 2.1 suggest population growth, and the rates below that level indicate a declining population and a potential ageing population. Nationally, India’s TFR touched replacement level in 2019 and was at 2.0 since 2020. TFR represents the average number of children born to a woman during her reproductive years.As per SRS report, Gross Reproduction Rate (GRR) for 2023 is estimated at 0.9, which means that on average, each woman in India is having one daughter who survives to reproductive age and has children of her own. Rural GRR (1.0) was slightly higher than urban GRR (0.7), which suggests that women in rural areas are having more daughters than women in urban areas.
GRR is a refined measure of fertility that accounts for future mothers and measures the average number of female children a woman is expected to give birth during her entire reproductive span conforming to the age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) for a given year, if there is no mortality. GRR values for major states/UTs range from 0.6 in Delhi, Bengal and TN to 1.3 in Bihar.TFR for rural areas was 2.2 in 2022 and 1.6 for urban. Going by TFR for 2023, at present, a rural woman would have about one child more than an urban woman having a TFR of 1.5 on an average.As far as states go, Bihar had highest TFR among bigger states/UTs at 2.8, followed by UP (2.6), MP (2.4) and and Rajasthan (2.3). Delhi records the lowest TFR at 1.2, followed by TN and Bengal at 1.3 each.Maharashtra stands at 1.4, while Andhra, J&K, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, and Telangana each have a TFR of 1.5. TFR in urban areas was generally lower than in rural areas across all major states/UTs in India, except Kerala and TN.
