Despite a fall, the birth rate in Uttar Pradesh remains higher than the national average, reveals the sample registration survey (SRS) data released recently.

As per the SRS report released by the Registrar General of India, the national birth rate average came down from 20.4 in 2016 to 20.2 in 2017, but in Uttar Pradesh it came down from 26.2 in 2016 to 25.9 in 2017. UP at present stands number two in birth rate after Bihar (26.4).

Birth rate is a crude measure of fertility of a population and is a crucial determinant of population growth. The birth rate in India, according to SRS, has declined drastically in the past four decades. In 1971 it was 36.9 and in 2017 it came down to 20.2.

According to the data, in Uttar Pradesh the birth rate is higher in rural areas (27.0) than in urban areas (22.6). “There are two key factors for the birth rate not going down considerably in the state. The first is lack of focus on family planning programme and second is the migration of population, particularly from rural areas to urban, thereby increasing the number of nuclear families,” said Dr Neelam Singh, head of Vatsalya, an organisation working on female foeticide.

She said that if the programmes reached a large populace, they would make greater impact and this would bring about positive change in birth rate figures.

First Published: Jun 04, 2019 13:36 IST