Previous Year Question
With reference to ‘birth rate’, which of the following statement(s) is/are correct?
Urbanization helps in reducing the birth rate.
High literacy rate is directly related to low birth rate.
Select the correct answer using the codes given below.
Only 1
Only 2
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2
Correct Answer: C
Detailed Solution
Statement 1 is correct. In general, increasing urbanization is associated with a tendency towards lower birth rates. In urban areas, the costs of raising and educating children are generally higher, age at marriage and first birth may be higher, opportunities for women's education and employment increase, and access to contraception and reproductive-health services tends to be better. These factors can encourage smaller family size.
Official demographic data also support this broad pattern. For example, in SRS 2022, India's Crude Birth Rate was 20.8 per 1,000 population in rural areas, compared with 15.5 per 1,000 in urban areas.
Statement 2 is also correct. Higher literacy, particularly female education, is generally associated with lower fertility and lower birth rates. Education can delay marriage and childbearing, improve awareness of reproductive choices and contraceptive methods, and strengthen women's decision-making capacity.
NFHS-5 national indicators also show substantially higher female literacy and attainment of ten or more years of schooling in urban areas than in rural areas, while the urban TFR was 1.6 compared with 2.1 in rural areas. This helps illustrate the broader demographic relationship among education, urbanization and lower fertility.
However, birth rates are not determined by literacy or urbanization alone. Income, age at marriage, women's employment, infant mortality, availability of contraception, social norms and family-size preferences also influence fertility behaviour.