Need To Educate More Women To Control Population: Survey

To control India's population, the government should impart education to more women as according to the latest sample registration system (SRS) 2015, there is an intrinsic relationship between level of education among women and the total fertility rate.

It has been found that 24.9% of Rajasthan's women population is completely illiterate, which is one of the major reasons behind the high TFR

The statistics prove that TFR plummets as more and more women get educated.

Relationship between women's education and TFR

"Evidence clearly shows that education has direct effect on the total fertility rate. Education keeps girls and boys in school and helps avert child marriage, thereby reducing adolescent fertility rate. Education also helps families take informed decisions on the number of children they should have and when they should have children, by delaying and spacing child-bearing through use of contraceptives" said Diego Palacios, country representative, UNFPA India.

Besides Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand are the other states with lowest literacy levels among women. For instance, Bihar has 29%, UP has 24.4%, MP has 20% and Jharkhand has 26.5% of women population, which is illiterate.

Talking in national terms,16.2% of women population in India is illiterate. Among such illiterate women population, TFR is 3.7. In fact, India lags behind Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal in female literacy.

The Hindu reported that in India, the proportion of women who completed five years of primary schooling were only 48 per cent, while Nepal was at 92 per cent, Pakistan 74 per cent and Bangladesh at 54 per cent.

Elevating women's status by educating them is an important step in the direction of controlling the country's burgeoning population. They must be sensitized about the need of family planning as a means to stabilize the population.

Read Also: India Lags Behind Pak, Nepal In Female Literacy