Components of Fertility Change in India and is its Major States During 1972- 1992

Abstract

One of the most critical problems of India and of many other developing countries is their rapid population growth. India's population increased from 361 million to 846 million between 1951 and 1991; a 134 per cent increase during the 40 year period. Of the three main components that are responsible for population growth namely, fertility, mortality and migration, fertility is the most crucial and major player.

The impact of a country's fertility on its socioeconomic development is well recognized. Davis and Blake have identified eleven "intermediate variables" through which social and cultural factors affect fertility. In a later study,
Bongaarts collapsed these variables into seven factors, and found that only four of them, called "proximate variables" are important for explaining the fertility difference between populations. They are: the proportion of women (of reproductive age) married, proportion of couples (of reproductive age) using contraception, length of lactational infecundability, and extent of induced abortion. Recent research shows that among these four factors, the first two are more important.