Prelims: Current events of national and international importance | Health
Why in News?
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have the lowest fertility rate in India, according to the National Family Health Survey-6 recently released by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Key Findings for Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- Total Fertility Rate (TFR) Trajectory
- Current Status - The Union Territory's TFR has plummeted to 0.9, which is less than half of the standard replacement level benchmark.
- Historical Trend - This represents a steep decline over the last decade, falling from 1.4 in NFHS-4 (2015-16) and 1.3 in NFHS-5 (2019-21) to its current historic low.
- Shift in Age Structure & Demographics
- Declining Child Population - The share of children under 5 years of age has dropped to 3.7% in NFHS-6 from 5.3% in NFHS-5.
- Similarly, children under 15 years now constitute just 17.5% of the population, down from 20.8%.
- Ageing Population - Conversely, the proportion of individuals aged 60 and above expanded from 11% to 12.6%, signalling a rapid demographic transition toward an older populace.
- Preschool Enrollment Contraction - Paralleling the reduction in early childhood cohorts, preschool attendance among children aged 2 to 4 years witnessed a sharp reduction, dropping from 88.5% to 66.2%.
- Underlying Determinants of the Decline
- Socio-Economic Framework - The islands function largely as a middle-class society characterized by high literacy rates, low structural unemployment, and prominent women's education.
- Economic Independence - Enhanced female labor-force participation and financial autonomy have delayed marriages and reshaped reproductive choices.
- Family Planning Access - Widespread, frictionless access to modern family-planning methods and a cross-generational socio-cultural shift preferring single-child households.
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Quick Facts
- Total Fertility Rate (TFR) - The average number of children a woman would give birth to during her childbearing years (typically periods spanning ages 15–49) based on current age-specific fertility rates.
- Replacement-Level Fertility - The specific TFR level at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next without migration. Globally, this benchmark is established at 2.1 children per woman.
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Reference
Down to Earth | India’s lowest fertility rate
