In recent weeks there have been repeated calls by prominent public figures to increase birth rates in India. Chandra Babu Naidu and MK Stalin, chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, respectively, are urging families to have more children and are even providing state incentives for more childbirths. These calls stem from the fears that fertility rates (the average number of children a woman bears during her reproductive life) have declined below the replacement level of 2.1 in their states, and, over time, the working-age population may shrink, affecting economic growth. Another argument advanced is that a lower share of population in their respective states would mean lower representation in the national legislature and a lower level of Union devolution of resources. These calls to increase birth rates, and therefore population, have serious and lasting consequences and deserve to be examined carefully.

When I was a medical student 50 years ago, many young people of my generation were deeply worried about unchecked population growth. According to the 1971 census, India's population was 548 million. Our fears proved to be right. In just 54 years we reached about 1460 million, a 2.7-fold increase! During the same period, global population increased from 3.69 billion (1970) to 8.2 billion (2024), an increase of 2.2 times. In fact, the twentieth century saw unprecedented population growth globally. The world........

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