Factors affecting variations in fertility by states of India: A preliminary investigation

The most recent demographic data collected by India’s 1992/93 National Family Health Survey revealed marked variations in fertility by state. Fertility, measured by the total fertility rate (TFR), ranged from as high as 4.82, 4.25, 4.00, 3.99 and 3.90 children per woman in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, respectively, to as low as the replacement, or lower, level of fertility at 1.90, 2.00 and 2.26 in Goa, Kerala and Mizoram, respectively. The national average TFR was 3.39 children per woman; the TFRs of the remaining 16 states varied between a low of 2.48 children per woman in Tamil Nadu to a high of 3.74 children per woman in the State of Meghalaya (see accompanying figure).