Odisha’s Total Fertility Rate Down To 1.8% From 2.1% In 2015-16

Bhubaneswar: If the total fertility rate is an important indicator of the success of family planning programmes, then Odisha has achieved considerable success.

Earlier, this year, the Odisha government had launched a two-week-long campaign ‘Population Stabilisation Fortnight’ to improve the overall family planning initiatives across the state on the occasion of World Population Day.

Family planning counselling and contraceptives services were rolled out in all functional urban primary health centres as part of the initiative.

According to the latest figures (2020-21) of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), the total fertility rate in Odisha is down to 1.8℅ in 2020-21 compared to 2.1% in 2015-16. Earlier, it was 1.9 % against the national average of 2.2 %.

The total fertility rate (children per woman) has also come down to 1.8 % in 2020-21 compared to 2.1 in 2015-2016, which can also be attributed to the increase in modern methods of family planning, from 45.4% in 2015-16 to 48.8%.

Notably, in the UN Population Fund report of 2011, Odisha was one of the eight states blamed for India faltering on the population control front with fertility between three and four children a woman, the others being Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and  Chhattisgarh.

This fact sheet of the NFHS 2020-21 survey provides information on key indicators and trends for Odisha, which will be useful in setting benchmarks and examining the progress the health sector has made over time. Besides, it will also provide evidence for the effectiveness of ongoing programmes and help in identifying the need for new programmes with an area-specific focus and identifying groups that are most in need of essential services.

Information was gathered from 26,467 households, 27,971 women, and 3,865men.