Costs, careers and choice: Why Indians are having fewer children

Bengaluru, India – Soon after Nidhi Agarwal got married, she and her partner decided not to have children. Nine years later, that’s a decision they still stick by.

“Before marriage, we never discussed kids. We spoke about finances and our career goals,” the 41-year-old, who runs a public relations company in India’s tech capital Bengaluru, said. “After marriage, we did have a conversation about children and both of us felt that we wanted to focus on our careers and build companies which could have a bigger impact on society, rather than raising children.”

“My elder sister is not married, so there was this pressure from my family that I should have children,” she says. “But not having children was our personal choice since we felt – and still feel – we have larger life goals.”

They are far from alone in this decision. Many young people across India, which has seen rapid population growth for decades, are now choosing to have fewer children or not to have children at all.

According to government figures, including from the Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report – the country’s largest demographic survey – India has been experiencing a falling birthrate for some years, but the reproduction rate had until now remained high enough to keep the population growing.

Now, the latest SRS report, released last month by India’s Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, shows that India’s total fertility rate (TFR) has dropped to 1.9 children born per woman – lower than the benchmark level of 2.1 required to sustain a population at its current levels. The TFR is the average number of children that a woman is expected to have in her lifetime. In the 2000s, India’s TFR was about 3.3 births per woman.

Experts say better access to education and contraceptives are among key factors behind the falling birthrate – along with the increased costs of bringing up children.

Jyotsna Mirlay, a consultant gynaecologist in Bengaluru, told Al Jazeera that higher levels of education and globalisation mean today’s young women are less likely to buy into traditional narratives about the importance of marriage and children than their mothers and grandmothers did. They are turning away from the message that “you will only feel settled in life if you get married and have children”, she said.