Syllabus
GS: 2 Important International institutions
Context:
Recently, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has released the State of World Population report 2025 titled “The Real Fertility Crisis: The pursuit of reproductive agency in a changing world”.
Key highlights of the report
- Global Population: The global population has reached 8.2 billion, with growth rates slowing. However, significant disparities in population dynamics persist between wealthy and poorer nations.
- Fertility Crisis: The true challenge lies in unfulfilled fertility aspirations—where individuals are unable to achieve their desired family size.
- Reproductive Agency: Ensuring that individuals have the autonomy to make informed and voluntary decisions about reproduction, contraception and when to have children is central to addressing fertility challenges.
- Demographic Dividend: With more than 60% of the global population between the ages of 15 and 64, there exists a crucial opportunity for enhanced economic productivity and development.
- Ageing Population: The rapidly increasing number of people aged 65 and older worldwide demands urgent attention to healthcare systems and pension support mechanisms.
- One in five people around the world do not expect to have as many children as they want.
The main reasons are the high cost of raising children, job insecurity, housing problems, worries about the world and not finding the right partner. Economic stress and gender inequality also play a big role.
Key Findings for India
- The real issue is not having too many or too few children, but the inability to achieve desired fertility goals.
- The report urges a shift from panic over declining fertility to addressing unmet reproductive goals.
- Unintended Pregnancy and Unmet Fertility:
About 36% of adult Indians have experienced unintended pregnancies.
Around 30% reported unfulfilled desire for having either more or fewer children.
23% experienced both challenges, among the highest rates across the 14 countries surveyed.
Barriers to Reproductive Autonomy in India
- The report, which includes a UNFPA-YouGov survey across 14 countries, including India, challenges global narratives around ‘population explosion’ vs. ‘population collapse’.
Fertility Trends in India
- National Replacement Fertility Achieved: Replacement-level fertility is commonly defined as 2.1 births per woman, which is the rate at which a population size remains the same from one generation to the next.
India has reached replacement-level fertility (TFR of 2.0), but disparities remain.
This is aligned with the National Population Policy 2000 and the National Health Policy 2017 (TFR of 2.1).
- India’s adolescent fertility rate stands at 14.1 per 1,000 women aged 15–19, which is significantly higher than China (6.6), Sri Lanka (7.3), and Thailand (8.3), adversely impacting maternal and child health.
UNFPA Recommendations for India
- Rights-Based Demographic Resilience:
Focus on adapting to population changes without compromising human rights
- Policy and Service Interventions:
Expand sexual and reproductive health services:
Universal access to contraception, safe abortion, maternal health, infertility care
Remove structural barriers:
Invest in childcare, education, housing, workplace flexibility
Promote inclusive policies:
Extend services to unmarried individuals, LGBTQIA+ persons, and marginalized groups
Enhance data systems and accountability:
Track unmet needs, bodily autonomy—not just fertility rates
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
- The UNFPA, established in 1967, is the United Nations’ sexual and reproductive health agency.
- UNFPA’s mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.
- In 1987, the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) was officially renamed the United Nations Population Fund. However, the original abbreviation UNFPA was retained.
- UNFPA is Headquartered New York City, USA.
Key Terms Related to the topic
- Positive Growth of Population: When the birth rate is more than the death rate between two points of time or when people from other countries migrate permanently to a region, it is called positive growth of population.
- Negative Growth of Population: When there is a decrease in population between two points of time due to a fall in birth rate below the death rate or people migrate to other countries, it is called negative growth of population.
- Density of Population: The number of persons per unit area is called the density of population. According to the 2011 Census, India’s population density is 382 persons per square kilometer, and in states, Bihar has the highest density at 1106 persons per square kilometer. In 1951, it was 117 persons/sq km.
- Period of population explosion: The sudden increase in the population of the country is called a population explosion. In India, the decade of 1951-1981 is referred to as the period of population explosion. During this period, the average annual growth rate was as high as 2.2 percent.
UPSC Mains Practice Question
Q: “The real fertility crisis is not about overpopulation or underpopulation, but about the lack of reproductive autonomy.” In the light of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) State of World Population Report 2025, discuss the implications of this perspective for India’s population policy and socio-economic planning.