TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
India's birth rate shrinks
Indiaâs birth rate declined dramatically in the last two decades due in part to rising female literacy, a new study shows, but experts warned against complacency in the country of 1
Change Size
I
ndia's birth rate declined dramatically in the last two decades due in part to rising female literacy, a new study shows, but experts warned against complacency in the country of 1.2 billion.
The Total Fertility Rate -- the number of children the average woman will have in her lifetime based on current trends -- fell to just 2.3 last year from 3.6 in 1991, according to official figures released on Monday.
Improvements in female literacy were having 'a direct impact on fertility', said the report, called the Sample Registration Survey.
India, which is set to become the world's most populated country in the next decade, has been trying for decades to curb population growth.
'The new data shows India does not need to panic,' said Poonam Muttreja, director of the Population Foundation of India, a non-profit advocacy and research group.
