Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Kerala birth rates declining at twice the rate of national average: SRS 2021 data

SRS 2021 data reveals declining birth rates in Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Kerala, faster than national average.

The annual crude birth rates (live births per 1,000 people in the population) for Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Kerala are declining at twice the rate of the national average, showed data from the Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report 2021, released by the Registrar General of India last week.  

The SRS 2021 data showed that the all-India crude birth rate was 19.3 in 2021, dropping at a rate of 1.12% every year from 2016 to 2021. In comparison, in the same period, the birth rate for Tamil Nadu has been declining at a rate of 2.35% every year, Delhi’s has been declining at a rate of 2.23% and Kerala’s is dropping at a rate of 2.05%. 

The data showed that the slowest rate of decline in birth rate was seen in States such as Rajasthan (0.48%), Bihar (0.86%), Chhattisgarh (0.98%), Jharkhand (0.98%), Assam (1.05%), Madhya Pradesh (1.05%), West Bengal (1.08%), and Uttar Pradesh (1.09%). The data further revealed that Uttarakhand was the only State which saw a rise in birth rate in this period.

The birth rates data from the SRS 2021 further revealed that the rate of decline was faster than the national average for 13 large States and union territories. All southern States — Andhra Pradesh (1.26%), Telangana (1.67%), Karnataka (1.68%), Kerala, and Tamil Nadu — featured among these 13 large States and union territories.  

The SRS is the largest demographic survey in the country, meant to provide annual estimates on fertility and mortality indicators such as birth rates, death rates, etc. Conducted in 8,842 sample units all over India with a sample size of about 84 lakh, the 2021 SRS survey data gave a picture of population trends that have usually been read with figures reported in decadal Censuses. The 2021 Census has not yet been conducted. 

Apart from the southern States, birth rates were seen declining faster than the national average for Maharashtra (1.57%), Gujarat (1.24%), Odisha (1.34%), Himachal Pradesh (1.29%), Haryana (1.21%), and Jammu and Kashmir (1.47%), with Punjab’s birth rate declining almost at the same rate as that of the national average.  

Corresponding to this data set in the SRS 2021 Statistical Report, the Civil Registration System 2021 dataset showed that some of the States seeing the slowest decline in birth rates are also reporting increasing number of registered births.