What gender gap lens reveals about declining fertility rate

This global concern also resonates in the recently released Global Gender Gap Report 2025 in which India ranks 131st out of 148 countries. The Global Gender Gap Index, developed by the World Economic Forum and published annually since 2006, measures gender parity across four dimensions – economics, politics, education and health.

Global Gender Gap Report builds on the foundational efforts of earlier initiatives such as the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) launched in 1984 and the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women that have helped foster gender equality. In 2015, gender equality was further reinforced as a global priority when it was included as Sustainable Development Goal 5 in the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development to be achieved by 2030. 

The importance of the Global Gender Gap Report lies in the fact that policymakers use it as a benchmark to assess progress made in addressing gender disparities. If one looks at India’s performance in the latest report, the parity score is 64.1 per cent – one of the lowest in South Asia. In the third parameter – health and survival – India has improved scores in sex ratio at birth and healthy life expectancy. 

Declining fertility rate and gender inequities

However, there are concerns over the declining fertility rate. India’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) – the average number of children per woman – has dropped to 2.0, according to the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) State of World Population Report 2025. The same was also reported in the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) of 2019-21. 

A TFR of 2 is considered the replacement level as two kids will replace their parents. But since some kids die, the replacement level is considered as 2.1. Hence, India’s TFR has fallen below the replacement level of 2.1. 

The falling fertility rate is also linked to India’s ranking in the Global Gender Gap Index, indicating how reproductive freedom and choice are being regulated by external factors. Economic, social, cultural and political factors together influence couples’ decisions to have fewer or no children. Hence, fertility is not merely a matter of individual choice but a socially constructed outcome. 

In a survey by the UNFPA and YouGov conducted in 14 countries, including India, 20 per cent of respondents were of the view that they may be unable to have the number of children they want. One in five cited future concerns like climate change, war and pandemics as reasons behind having fewer children.  

In the case of India, financial limitations (38%) pose a significant challenge to young people’s child bearing aspirations. Unemployment and job insecurity (21%), housing issues such as lack of space and high rent (22%), and inadequate childcare facilities (18%) contribute to making parenthood seemingly unattainable. 

Healthcare is yet another significant factor that determines fertility decisions. Globally, one in three individuals have faced unintended pregnancy. In India, 14 per cent of people say they face barriers in accessing fertility or pregnancy-related medical care. At least 15 per cent of people cite poor general health or chronic illnesses as reasons behind not wanting to have children or to have fewer. 

Social factors behind reproductive choice

Moreover, there are notable regional variations in fertility rates across India. According to the NFHS-5, only five states – Bihar (2.98), Uttar Pradesh (2.35), Jharkhand (2.26), Meghalaya (2.91), and Manipur (2.17) – still exceed the replacement rate of 2.1. In comparison, southern and western states such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Gujarat report fertility levels below replacement levels – ranging from 1.6 to 1.9. The TFR has also declined in both urban (1.6) and rural (2.2) areas.

High fertility rates are often associated with pressure on public infrastructure and lower levels of women’s education and agency, while low fertility rates raise concerns about better economic and social security. Although the decline in fertility is often seen as a matter of women’s choice, the reality is more complex. The role of the state and society in creating enabling conditions for parenthood, especially motherhood, is important here. It includes ensuring equitable access to healthcare facilities and protecting reproductive freedom. 

Moreover, motherhood cannot be seen as biologically determined and needs to be supported by state-backed measures like parental leave, flexible working hours, and childcare facilities. For instance, the Voice of Women Study 2024 involving 24,000 women employees found that even making use of family-friendly policies – such as medically necessary maternity leave – incurs a reputational cost for women in the workplace. Women are often pushed into lower-paid, part-time roles, limiting career advancement and increasing economic inequality. As such, parenthood is seen as an opportunity cost, particularly for women. 

Hence, the falling fertility rate needs to be seen in the context of broader societal and institutional issues. The UNFPA and YouGov survey also shows that parenthood aspirations are changing for both men and women. Moreover, in the context of India, women alone rarely make reproductive decisions. Social pressure, particularly the preference for male children, affects women’s reproductive choice. 

Sociological studies by scholars like Leela Dube and Prem Chowdhry have noted this. For instance, in her book Women and Kinship: Comparative Perspectives on Gender in South and South‑East Asia, Dube argues that kinship systems structure gender relations in ways that undervalue women as compared to men. Similarly, Chowdhry in her works such as The Veiled Women: Shifting Gender Equations in Rural Haryana has written about prejudices associated with having a daughter in India. 

Gendered roles and fertility rate

At the policy level, what is required is to build trust through stable and rights-based approaches. For example, in 2024, the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly amended the Panchayat Raj and Municipal Acts, which had earlier banned anyone with more than two children from contesting local body elections. The declining fertility rates in the state prompted it to repeal the old policy. 

According to the NFHS 2019-21, Andhra Pradesh reported a TFR of 1.47 in urban areas and 1.78 in rural areas – both well below the replacement level of 2.1. But it is not enough to ask couples to have more children. Rather concrete provisions offering economic and social security would help make parenthood a feasible choice.  

At the societal level, the desire to have fewer or no children is also guided by how gendered roles operate in the domestic space. According to the Time Use Survey conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO), the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in 2024, 41 per cent of women participate in caregiving compared to only 21.4 per cent of men. Women spend 140 minutes per day in caregiving activities whereas men spend 74 minutes. 

This reflects the Indian social fabric where domestic and caregiving responsibilities are largely seen as women’s work, often discouraging women from having children or opting for fewer. It underlines a pressing need for policies that formally recognises women’s unpaid domestic labour. Feminist economists like Devaki Jain in her 1996 paper titled Valuing Work: Time as a Measure have advocated for the same. 

Domestic responsibilities and parenthood need to go beyond gendered roles to address the declining fertility rate. It is not a ‘women’s problem’ but one that needs to be tackled at both societal and policy levels. Fertility choices in India are after all deeply embedded in caste, religion and patriarchy. 

Post Read Questions

To what extent does India’s low ranking in the Global Gender Gap Report reflect structural barriers to reproductive autonomy?

How do declining fertility rates in India reflect on the narrative of women’s empowerment? 

In what ways do gendered domestic responsibilities, as reflected in Time Use Survey data, shape reproductive choices?

Fertility-related policies should focus more on economic incentives or on dismantling structural inequalities. Support your answer with examples. 

(Rituparna Patgiri is an Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati.)

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