Fertility rate of Meetei women dipping: NFHS report
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, July 10 2022:
Among the different communities of Manipur, child birth rate or Total Fertility Rate (TFR) for Meetei community considered as general population of the state declines to 1.77 but TFR for other indigenous communities of the state remains high as per report of the 5th National Family Health Survey (2019-21) conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), 2019-21 was conducted by the Mumbai-based International Institute for Population Science (UPS) as nodal agency under the aegis of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the report was published in March, 2022.As per the report, TFR is determined based on religion and TFR for Hindu population of Manipur is 1.77, 2.34 for Muslim, 2.94 for Christian and 1.79 for other religions.
Majority of Hindu population in Manipur being Meetei, it is certain that based on the report the TFR for the community dipped to 1.77.When the report is studied, JFR is found to be highest in Ukhrul with 3.3 among all the districts of the state and 1.7 and 2 for Imphal West and Imphal East districts respectively.
The report also mentioned TFR for Senapati district as 3.1,2.9 for Tamenglong, 3.0 for Churachandpur, 2.0 for Bishnupur, 2.0 for Thoubal and 2.5 for Chandel district.
TFR for Imphal West and Imphal East districts where the Meetei community concentrates most is lower than others.
The NFHS-5 report also mentioned fertility rate for Hindu women between the age group 15-49 years as 3.9 per cent and that of Muslim as 5.6, 5.8 pc for Christian and 4.1 pc for others.
It also pointed out that average live birth rate for Hindu, Muslim, Christian and others in the age group 40-49 years as 2.4 per cent, 4.4 pc, 3.6 pc and 2.5 pc respectively.
The latest NFHS added several new topics like preschool education, disability, toilet facility, death registration, average bath among women during periods and methods and reasons for abortion.
NFHS provides high quality data about health and family welfare of people and helps the government in identifying those left out of government welfare schemes.
It also serves as indicators for fertility level, infant and child mortality, maternal and child health.