- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE southern Indian state of Kerala witnessed a sharp decrease in live births in the first nine months of 2021, a time when the state battled the Covid-19 pandemic and work from home remained the norm and several thousands of expatriates returned to the state.
Data from the state’s chief registrar of birth and death showed that while Kerala, the Indian state with the highest literacy rate, has been seeing a steady fall in birth numbers, the slide has been the steepest this year, the Indian Express daily reported.
In the pre-pandemic year, Kerala saw registered 4.8 lakh (0.48 million) births, which fell to 4.53 lakh (0.45 million) in 2020 and the number plummeted to 2.17 (0.21 million) lakh till September 30 this year.
In the first six months of the current year, the number of births registered ranged between 27,534 (in February) to 32,969 (in June).
In the months of July, August and September, the births averaged around 10,000 with September witnessing 12,227 registered births.
The Express cited sources as saying that at this rate, 2021 will witness the highest year-on-year fall in birth figures in Kerala in the last one decade, a fall which is expected to see a far-reaching impact on the state’s demography in the coming days.
In 2010, Kerala recorded 5.46 lakh live births that went up to 5.6 lakh (0.56 million) in 2011. Since then, the number of births has fallen, except a small jump in 2016-17.
The southern state has seen 100 per cent registration of births in the rural and urban areas with 98.96 per cent of them being institutional deliveries. In 2019, more than 87 per cent births in Kerala were registered within three weeks of birth.
