Christians in India are concerned after a federal government report recorded a decline in the fertility rate among the community leading to a further reduction in their population. According to the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS) report, the total fertility rate (TFR) among Christians declined to 1.88 percent in 2019-21 from 2.87 percent in 1992-93. Christians make up 2.3 percent of the more than 1.3 billion population, according to the 2011 national census, but the community fears that their population will decline further.
Archbishop Sebastian Kallupura of Patna in Bihar state in eastern India said many families are going nuclear. “We generally see a trend among the educated people from the community to opt for small families, unlike in the past when larger families were the norm,” Archbishop Kallupura, chairman of the family commission of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), told. “The high cost of living coupled with lack proper employment has forced families to restrict their number of children.”