Fertility at District Level in India: Lessons from the 2011 Census

This paper describes the methodology for estimating recent fertility levels at the district level in India based on the 2011 census figures. Due to the absence of reliable vital statistics for Indian districts, we rely on a set of indirect methods to assess fertility levels. To do this, we use mortality estimates and the child population aged 0-6 years to estimate the number of births during the 7 years preceding the census and derive from these figures both crude birth rates and fertility rates for all Indian districts. The results are compared with similar results derived from the 2001 census. Our analysis points in particular to the significant population overcount in Jammu and Kashmir during the 2011 census and to the continuous, but extremely slow process of fertility decline in India