A recent Sample Registration System (SRS) report has revealed that India's crude birth rate has declined, while the death rate remains higher than pre-pandemic levels.
The report, released by the Office of the Registrar General of India, shows that the crude birth rate was 18.3 in 2024, down from 18.4 in 2023. The number declined from 14.9 to 14.7 in urban areas and from 20.3 to 20.2 in rural areas.
However, the total fertility rate (TFR), which is the number of children a woman is expected to have over her reproductive age, remained flat at 2023 levels at 1.9. This is below the replacement level of 2.1, marking the fifth consecutive year.
The death rate, on the other hand, remained flat at 6.4, with a marginal decline in urban areas from 5.7 in 2023 to 5.6 in 2024. The infant mortality rate also continued to decline, although slowly, from 25 in 2023 to 24 in 2024.
The cause of death statistics from the SRS show that the proportion of deaths from respiratory infections was still higher than pre-pandemic levels, while the share of deaths from motor vehicle accidents and suicide rose.
