The fertility rate in Muslims has witnessed a massive dip among all religious communities in India over the past two decades, shows data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
According to a report by Indian Express, the community’s fertility rate dipped to 2.3 in 2019-2021 from 2.6 in 2015-16. While all religious communities have shown a decline in fertility, contributing to a dip in the nation’s total fertility rate, the fall has been sharpest in the Muslim community, from 4.4 in NFHS 1(1992-93) to 2.3 in NFHS 5(2019-2021).
In NFHS 5, the country’s overall fertility has shown a dip below the replacement level of two children per woman, falling from 2.2 in NFHS 4.
The Muslim community’s fertility rate, however, remains the highest among all religious communities, with the Hindu community following at 1.94 in NFHS 5, down from 2.1 in 2015-16.
The Hindu community had a fertility rate of 3.3 in 1992-93. NFHS 5 has found that the Christian community has a fertility rate of 1.88, the Sikh community 1.61, the Jain community 1.6 and the Buddhist and neo-Buddhist community 1.39—the lowest rate in the country.
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