UNFPA, FP2030 & Gates Foundation host roundtable on India’s declining fertility rates

New Delhi: The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) India, in collaboration with the Family Planning 2030 (FP2030) Asia-Pacific Regional Hub and the Gates Foundation, hosted a roundtable with senior officials from the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (EAC-PM) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), alongside representatives from development partners, academia and civil society.

The discussion focused on India’s evolving demographic landscape, marked by declining fertility rates and a continued need to expand access to quality family planning services. The roundtable offered a forward-looking vision for strengthening family planning policies and programmes to align with the changing population profile.

The roundtable comes at a crucial time. While India’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has fallen to 2.0, below the replacement level of 2.1, millions of women do not have access to the family planning services they seek. With unmet need standing at 9.4 percent, this gap affects an estimated 47 million women, underscoring the importance of strengthening access, choice, and quality in family planning.

Ms. Andrea M. Wojnar, UNFPA India Representative said, “India stands at a defining moment in its demographic journey. With current fertility trends, focus must champion reproductive rights, choice, and the full continuum of reproductive health for all. This roundtable marks an important step toward shaping a future-ready, evidence-driven family planning agenda, one that places people, especially young women and those with unmet needs, at the centre of national policy and socio-economic development.”

Dr. Shamika Ravi, Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) commented “India is a diverse country, and this diversity demands precision policy making. Every block, every village, every region is different, each with its own social realities, needs, and challenges. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. To deliver real impact, we must localize our strategies and design interventions that respond to what is happening on the ground in each pocket of the country. Precision policy making is not just desirable; it is essential for ensuring that programmes reach the people who need them most, in the way they need them.”

Ms. Aradhana Patnaik, Additional Secretary & Mission Director, National Health Mission, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) said “We must remember that family planning is not a women’s programme, it is a family programme. This is why, alongside saas-bahu sammelans, the Ministry also convenes saas-bahu-pati sammelans to reinforce that husbands and wives must make choices together. When couples share responsibility and decisions, we move closer to what truly matters: healthy mothers, healthy babies and healthy families. Partnership is at the core of real reproductive choice.”

The discussions highlighted that while India has made significant progress, the family planning agenda remains unfinished. Sustaining investments and broadening the definition of reproductive health to include infertility care was pressed upon. Participants also called for policy developments to guide future family planning strategies and priorities, while strengthening alignment among stakeholders on choice-based principles, irrespective of fertility rates.

Panel discussions explored key themes such as expanding the contraceptive basket of choice, integrating infertility services and addressing the reproductive health needs of adolescents and young people. The event concluded with a call to strengthen collaboration among government, development partners and civil society to ensure that family planning in India remains people centered, inclusive and responsive to changing fertility trends.