Emergence of Fertility Differentials as Evidence of Fertility Decline in India

A review of major studies on fertility concludes that it is only from the late 1960s that movement from the stage of uncontrolled fertility to the stage of uncontrolled fertility leading to the emergence of socio-economic differentials in fertility seems to have really gotten underway in India. This process appears to have been accelerated during the 1970s and 1980s. This indicates that the onset of fertility decline has began in India and the transition towards a regime of increasingly controlled fertility has been occuring at different rates among different socio-economic groups. These findings have important implications for population policies and programmes.