India's fertility rate drops below

India's population is estimated to reach 1.46 billion in 2025, continuing to be the highest in the world, according to a new UN demographic report, which also revealed the country's total fertility rate has fallen below the replacement rate.

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UNFPA's 2025 State of World Population (SOWP) Report, The Real Fertility Crisis, calls for a shift from panic over falling fertility to addressing unmet reproductive goals. Millions of people are not able to realise their real fertility goals, it asserts.

This is the real crisis, not underpopulation or overpopulation, and the answer lies in greater reproductive agency - a person's ability to make free and informed 150 percent choices about sex, contraception and starting a family, it says.

The report also reveals key shifts in population composition, fertility, and life expectancy, signalling a major demographic transition.

The report found that India's total fertility rate has declined to 1.9 births per woman, falling below the replacement level of 2.1.

This means that, on average, Indian women are having fewer children than needed to maintain the population size from one generation to the next, without migration.

Despite the slowing birth rate, India's youth population remains significant, with 24 percent in the age bracket of 0-14, 17 percent in 10-19, and 26 percent in 10-24.