India’s Population Growth Appears to be Stabilising: UN as World Figure Crosses 8 Billion

NEW DELHI:
As the global population reached 8 billion, the UN on Tuesday said India’s population growth appears to be stabilising which shows that the country’s national policies and health systems, including access to family planning services, are working.

The world population touched eight billion on Tuesday and India was the largest contributor to the milestone, having added 177 million people, the United Nations said., noting that for China, which added 73 million people, the projection is its contribution to the next billion in the global population is to be in the negative.

“The good news is that India’s population growth appears to be stabilising. The Total Fertility Rate – more or less the average number of children born per woman – has declined from 2.2 to 2.0 at the national level,” the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said.

A total of 31 states and Union Territories (constituting 69.7 per cent of the country’s population) have achieved fertility rates below the replacement level of 2.1, it said.

The main reasons for the decline in fertility include an increase in the adoption of modern family planning methods (from 47.8 per cent in 2015-16 to 56.5 per cent in 2019-21) and a reduction in unmet need for family planning by four per cent points over the same period, it said.

“This indicates significant improvements in access to family planning-related information and services. In summary, it shows that India’s national population policies and health systems are working,” the UN body said.