A social media post that claims that ‘Hindus have the highest fertility rate in World’ is being widely circulated. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: ‘Hindus have the highest fertility rate in World’.
Fact: According to studies conducted by Pew research organisation, globally Muslims have the highest fertility rate of any religious group, with an average of 2.9 children per woman, followed by Christians at 2.6 children per woman. Hindus and Jews, stand next with a fertility rate of 2.3 per woman, just below the global average of 2.4. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
According to a recent report published by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFP), India is set to surpass China as the world’s most populous nation, with 142.86 crore people. The report puts the total fertility rate of the country, per woman at 2.0.
There is no mention of the fertility rates of different religions in this report. None of the prominent world bodies like the UN, World Bank, etc. delineate fertility rates based on a religious basis.
Muslims have the highest fertility rate globally
However, as per the studies conducted by Pew research organisation, globally, Muslims have the highest fertility rate of any religious group, with an average of 2.9 children per woman, followed by Christians at 2.6 children per woman.
Hindus and Jews, stand next with a fertility rate of 2.3 per woman, just below the global average of 2.4. This implies that contrary to the viral claim, it is not the Hindus who have the highest fertility rate.
In India, fertility rates of major religions are on the decline:
India is home to almost 94% of Hindus across the world. Even in India, it is not Hindus who have the highest fertility rate. As per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2019-21, the fertility rate of Muslims stands at 2.36. While that of Hindus stands slightly less at 1.94.
It is noteworthy to mention that the report highlights the decline in the fertility rate across all major religious groups of the country. Over the course of five rounds of NFHS surveys starting from 1992-93, Muslims have witnessed the highest downfall in the total fertility rate.
Muslim total fertility rate has fallen by 46.5% from 4.41 (NFHS-1) to 2.36 (NFHS-5) while that of Hindus fell by 41.2%, i.e., it declined from 3.3 to 1.94.
To sum it up, it is not Hindus who have the highest fertility rate across all religious groups.
