Minister of Health, Family Welfare and Medical Education Satya Kumar Yadav has called the decline in fertility rate “alarming,” and bats for immediate corrective measures to prevent the adverse consequences.
“In Andhra Pradesh, the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is 1.50, which is below the replacement rate of 2.10. Further decline in the TFR in the State will result in ageing population and decline in productive work force,” the Minister said in a statement.
A shrinking workforce, bearing the burden of rising old age population, would create a condition of “shrinconomics” and this had serious implications for the economic wellbeing of the people and the State, he said. “The population under 14 years will shrink from 25% in 2011 to 15% in 2036, while that of 60 years and above will double from about 10% to 19% during this period, and further increase to 23% by 2047,” he said.
The median age of the population in the State was 32.50 years, more than the median age of the country, which was 28 years, the Minister noted. “If this trend is unchecked, the present population dividend will not be available beyond 2040, and it will turn into population debt,” he said, adding that the next 10 years were critical for population stabilisation.
