Karnataka’s fertility rate declines further to 1.5, well below replacement level

Karnataka has recorded a steady decline in its birth rate, with the State’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) at 1.5 in 2023, well below the replacement level fertility rate of 2.1. It was 1.6 in 2022.

Karnataka is in the group of other southern States such as Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, all of which have fertility levels lower than replacement rate.

Replacement level TFR denotes the average number of children each woman needs to give birth for one generation to replace the other.

According to the Sample Registration Survey (SRS) 2023, released this week by the Office of the Registrar General of India, the Crude Birth Rate (CBR) in Karnataka fell to 15.2 in 2023, down from 15.8 in 2022.

At the national level, India’s CBR declined from 19.1 in 2022 to 18.4 in 2023, while the country’s TFR fell for the first time in two years to 1.9. Bihar recorded the highest CBR at 25.8 and the highest TFR at 2.8, while Tamil Nadu reported the lowest CBR at 12 with a TFR of 1.3.

Sex ratio at birth

At 931, Karnataka’s sex ratio at birth (SRB) stood higher than the national average of 917, denoting that 931 girls are born for every 1,000 boys in the population. The sex ratio is higher in rural areas in Karnataka at 936 compared to 922 in urban areas.

The data showed that Chhattisgarh and Kerala reported the highest SRB at 974 and 971, respectively, while Uttarakhand reported the lowest at 868. Bihar’s SRB remained among the lowest in the country, despite slightly improving to 897 in 2023. Delhi, Maharashtra, and Haryana were among some of the States and UTs reporting SRB below 900 in 2023.