Beyond family planning: India needs a holistic approach for population studies and addressing demographic challenges

India’s ascension as the world's most populous country after surpassing China last year, has garnered substantial international attention regarding its demographic management. 

With approximately 1.4 billion people, representing 17.76 per cent of the global population, India faces significant challenges that necessitate urgent and innovative solutions. 

Since gaining independence, India has made notable strides in development, including improvements in life expectancy, literacy rates, vaccination coverage, institutional deliveries, and family planning services. 

The country has successfully reduced both infant and maternal mortality rates and decreased the total fertility rate, indicating progress in health and welfare.

Despite these achievements, India continues to face considerable population-related and development issues.

Demographic challenges

Challenges include an uneven access to family planning services, unmet contraception needs, and skewed sex ratios at birth in several states. 

India grapples with a dual disease burden (combination of communicable and non-communicable diseases), pervasive child and women malnutrition, persistent poverty, high unemployment rates, and complications arising from unsustainable urbanisation. 

Poor performance on global development indices highlights the urgency of addressing these issues. Effective solutions require integrated policy reforms, targeted interventions, and strategies focused on equity and sustainable development. 

Firstly, timely dissemination of data is essential. The policymaking will naturally suffer if the quality of data is compromised. 

The delayed 2021 Census, an unprecedented postponement, has had significant ramifications. 

Political factors might have contributed to the delay, disrupting administrative planning, and affecting survey accuracy. Timely census data is crucial for accurate estimates and effective policy development, emphasising the need for prompt census operations. 

Moreover, the lack of disclosure regarding essential datasets—such as those on social and economic census indicators, unemployment, and poverty—impedes evidence-based policymaking. 

Improving local-level registration for births, deaths, morbidity, and migration is vital. Strengthening the capabilities of ground-level personnel and regularly evaluating data systems are necessary for robust data management and effective planning.

Dearth of expertise 

Enhancing population studies education in India is critical. Despite being the world's most populous nation, India has relatively few academic departments dedicated to demography. 

The expansion of population studies programmes at universities will raise awareness about the discipline's importance and develop a skilled workforce capable of addressing complex population challenges. 

The government should broaden its perspective on population issues beyond numerical data and statistical analysis. It is essential to recruit district or zonal-level population officers trained in population studies with interdisciplinary approaches. These officers can integrate population dynamics with economic, statistical, public health, and policy demands at the local level, facilitating targeted interventions.

The annual Population Day campaigns in India aim to raise awareness about family planning and reproductive health, ensuring every child has a chance for a healthy life. However, family planning responsibilities disproportionately fall on women. 

Data from National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5 2019-2021) has revealed that male sterilisation rates are under one per cent (0.3 per cent), compared to approximately 38 per cent for females highlighting a gender imbalance. 

This underscores the need for greater male involvement in family planning efforts. Additionally, recent discussions on coercive population control measures risk exacerbating gender disparities. Inclusive strategies are necessary to provide equitable access to family planning for both men and women, reducing unwanted pregnancies, improving maternal health, and alleviating poverty. 

India’s National Population Policy (2000) is outdated and does not reflect recent demographic trends.

A revised policy, informed by current census data, is crucial for establishing advanced and sustainable population goals. Population challenges such as high child marriage rates, insufficient contraception use, rising adult mortality, and an ageing population persist.

A new policy should address these issues with innovative approaches tailored to regional disparities in population and development. 

Women empowerment vital for holistic development

Additionally, empowering women is essential for progress, as they constitute half of the global population. India could benefit significantly by better integrating women into the workforce. Despite an increase in female graduates, high unemployment rates reveal untapped potential. 

Supporting women’s re-entry into the workforce post-maternity is crucial but must be coupled with accessible re-employment opportunities and affordable childcare. 

Promotion of flexible work arrangements, including remote and hybrid models, requires collaboration among government, private, and informal sectors. 

Gender policies should address regional and intersectional differences, accounting for variations across states and social groups. Investing in women's education and employment yields benefits such as reducing child marriages, lowering fertility rates, and decreasing early childbirths.

Enhancing youth capabilities and creating robust employment opportunities are also crucial. The India Skills Report 2022 highlights a significant skill gap, with 75 per cent of respondents identifying this issue and only fewer than half of Indians considered employable. This gap hampers the effective utilisation of the demographic dividend. 

Instead of limiting population growth, India should focus on strategic planning to enhance productivity and employability. Initiatives on skill development have had limited grassroots impact. Increased investment in targeted skill development and comprehensive economic planning is needed to leverage the youth demographic.

Expanding the manufacturing sector is also vital for integrating young graduates into the workforce. Aligning skill enhancement, employability, and job creation is essential for sustained national growth.

Strengthening social protection systems is imperative as India faces an ageing population in future due to declining fertility and mortality rates, resulting in increased life expectancy.

This demographic shift requires robust social security frameworks to support the elderly, including enhanced assisted living options. Both government and non-governmental organisations must improve their capacity to provide protective measures, such as equitable pension plans for informal sector workers, ensuring secure retirements. 

Additionally, creating supportive work environments for those continuing to work beyond age 60 can enhance the quality of life for the ageing population.

Effective fund allocation is essential for advancing sectors such as family planning, welfare, skill-based education, and public health. Allocating at least 5-6 per cent of national GDP to each sector is critical. The Economic Survey (2022-23) indicates inadequate spending in public health (2.1 per cent) and education (2.9 per cent), falling short of necessary levels. 

This underfunding hampers the sustainability of initiatives and contributes to India's lower global rankings, including 134th in the Human Development Index (2023-24) and 112th in sustainable development goals (2023). 

To promote comprehensive national development, the government must prioritise and increase investment in these crucial areas by reallocating resources and reducing non-essential expenditures.

These measures are essential for addressing India's demographic challenges and harnessing its demographic dividend for sustained progress. Population issues encompass more than just family planning, as often depicted in the media. Prioritising individual/family development and empowerment will gradually address family planning concerns as societal progress advances.

From family planning to family welfare

A shift from family planning to emphasising family welfare in principle and practice is crucial. 

A holistic family welfare approach should empower both men and women to make informed reproductive health decisions, with equitable access to reproductive health services as a government priority. 

A multifaceted approach is needed, transcending traditional methods like sterilisation and contraception because as mentioned, addressing population issues solely through family planning is inadequate.

These issues are intertwined with social norms, cultural preferences (e.g., son preference), and exacerbated by poverty and exclusion. Achieving inclusive and sustainable population development requires a focus on broader socioeconomic development and behavioural change. While altering behaviours and social norms is gradual, development and welfare-oriented strategies have demonstrated long-term effectiveness. 

To manage the demographic dividend effectively, the emphasis should shift towards inclusive, skill-based education. This involves promoting life skills that prepare individuals to manage the complexities of the 21st century, enhancing problem-solving abilities, rational decision-making, and critical thinking, all crucial for cultivating a resilient and capable workforce. 

A paradigm shift is required in our engagement with the populace, moving from a top-down model to a people-centric, bottom-up approach, which has demonstrated greater local effectiveness.

It is crucial to transcend viewing the population merely as statistics; a more empathetic approach is needed, emphasising individuals' health, mental well-being, and overall quality of life. 

In summary, the policy framework must move beyond conventional family planning approaches to address India's demographic dynamics, opportunities, and challenges with strategic and effective measures.

Viewing the population not as a burden on resources but as an asset for driving economic and societal growth is essential for positioning India as a global superpower in the 21st century.

Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.