India’s dropping birth rate poses a dilemma with significant ramifications for public health policy and society. A study published in The Lancet projects that India’s fertility rate would fall to 1.29 by 2050. The TFR below the replacement level of 2.1, which characterizes this demographic change, suggests that, in the absence of immigration, the average number of children per woman is insufficient to sustain the current population size. Public health strategies must change to accommodate an ageing population and a possibly reduced workforce. These changes may call for increased funding regarding the treatments for higher fertility rates.
