Childfree India

The State of Childfree India

Sourced numbers and plain-language writing on childfree life across India.

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Children per woman, India

1.9

SRS 2023

Children per woman, rural India

2.1

The level usually described as replacement.

SRS 2023

Children per woman, urban India

1.5

SRS 2023

Children per woman, India, 2022

2.0

SRS 2022, as reported with SRS 2023

Sources: SRS 2023 NFHS-5, 2019-21 RBI Handbook, Table 6 How we use them

Last updated:

Why this exists

Conversations about not having children in India rarely start from numbers. This site is independent and puts public data on fertility, marriage age and wanted children in one place, with the source next to every figure. An anonymous community survey is coming, and its results will be published here with the method in full.

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JK 1.5Ladakh LA Chandigarh CH PB 1.5+0.28.7% HP 1.6+0.35% UK 1.7+0.49.8%Sikkim SK Arunachal Pradesh AR RJ 2.3+0.425% HR 1.9+0.413% DL 1.2+0.310% UP 2.6+0.615.8% BR 2.8+0.741% AS 2.0+0.332%Nagaland NL GJ 1.8+0.422% MP 2.4+0.423% CG 2.2+0.212% JH 2.1+0.432.2% WB 1.3+0.241.6%Meghalaya ML Manipur MN Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu DD MH 1.4+0.322% TS 1.5+0.224% OD 1.7+0.321%Tripura TR Mizoram MZ GA +0.15.8% KA 1.5+0.321.3% AP 1.5+0.129.3%Lakshadweep LD KL 1.5+0.16.3% TN 1.3+0.213%Puducherry PY Andaman & Nicobar Islands AN
Tap a state to see its numbers.

None of this measures childfree by choice. Wanted fertility is what women say they would have if every birth were wanted. It is a survey measure, not a count of childfree people.

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