A Falling Birth Rate Is Not a Problem

And more Indians being childfree is a good sign

I didn't want an Indian politician’s ill-conceived and alarmist statement on India’s falling birth rate to be the trigger that would finally get me to start this newsletter, but here we are.

This was/is supposed to be a newsletter about childfree living, about exploring life beyond the conventions of child-rearing. Of creating a life for oneself that is not centred around progeny, questioning the scripts that shape our understanding of a "complete" life, and opting out of the norms we’re socialised into. But most importantly, this was supposed to (and will!) be a newsletter on childfree joy, on finding happiness, satisfaction, peace, and love beyond the limits and constraints of parenthood, and on reimagining what a ‘fulfilled’ life looks like.

But here we are.

On January 6, Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu voiced his concerns on India’s falling birth rate, calling it a worrying trend. He singled out couples who were reluctant to have children, saying “Had your parents thought like that, would you have come into this world now?"

I can’t articulate what it is exactly about old male politicians all over the world talking about fertility that makes me so uncomfortable. Others have managed to articulate this far better, so for now, I will fall back on this - it gives me the ick. Maybe it’s all the bemoaning on wOmEn’S fErTiLiTy iSsUeS that reduces women to baby incubators? Or the mAcRoEcoNoMiCs. One day, I’ll manage to put that into words, but until then, it’s icky is what we’re working with. For a more eloquent critique, please read Nandita Bajaj and Amrita Nandy’s fabulous article - they write in response to statements from Naidu and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin (both of whom lament declining birth rates), rightfully pointing out that “Declining fertility is a global phenomenon due to women's increased autonomy and access to education, contraceptives, and reproductive healthcare services. This trend is cause for celebration, both for the greater gender equality it reflects and the reduced pressure on a planet crumbling under the weight of humanity. Yet politicians, economists, and media commentators portray this trend as a "demographic crisis" with allegedly disastrous consequences compromised economic growth, increased health costs to support the elderly or the disadvantage of being outnumbered by opposing ethnic or political groups.”

I have long since learnt to tune out what politicians, pro-natalists, pro-lifers, and neo-fascist billionaires with 11 children have to say on why more people should be having children. However, Chandrababu Naidu’s statement got my attention for a couple of different reasons.

For starters, Naidu’s comments are the latest addition to a slew of comments warning of a declining and ageing population - Indian politicians are doing a U-turn on population growth. In 2019 for example, Narendra Modi called the population explosion a major challenge. In 2022 a BJP leader made an unsuccessful attempt to convince the Supreme Court to implement a ‘two-child’ policy, limiting families to two children. For as long as I can remember, public policy discussions largely viewed the population boom in India as a bad thing, especially for a resource-constrained developing country.

Fast forward to today where the discourse on fertility, birthrates, and the population has shifted dramatically. Just last year Naidu indicated that his government is considering legislation that would only make individuals with two or more children eligible to contest local body elections. I haven’t followed this news since, but I’m fairly sure it’s entirely unconstitutional. M.K. Stalin irresponsibly spoke about how couples in Tamil Nadu should be having sixteen (!!!) children (this is an allusion to a Tamil proverb). He said this in the context of the hotly debated delimitation exercise in 2026 and while I’d like to give him the benefit of the doubt for sarcasm, the implications still warrant closer scrutiny.

If you’re not convinced that the personal, after all, is political, then maybe this will convince you. The choice to be childfree is not insulated from socio-political issues, laws, and policies. It intersects deeply with gender, class, caste, and a host of other factors. Since I started writing this piece, another imbecile with vocal chords who heads a ‘Brahmin group’ under the Madhya Pradesh government is offering 1 lakh rupees to couples who have four children. Ick, ick, ick, is all I can come up with.

So to summarise, we’re seemingly changing our stance on population growth in India.

But secondly and more significantly, it was not Naidu’s statement that caught my attention, it was the reaction to it. I didn’t come across Naidu’s statement through a news portal but on Reddit. The subreddit ‘ChildfreeIndia’ is easily the best place on the internet for Indians exploring and evaluating a childfree lifestyle. I’ve been researching childfreedom for a while now, and have noticed a glaring lack of firsthand or anecdotal perspectives in popular media. As a result, I often find myself turning to this subreddit for insight and a sense of community.

Anyway - Naidu’s statement was originally posted on r/IndiaSpeaks, and cross-posted to r/ChildfreeIndia. In the never-ending hellhole that is the comments section of any post, the ensuing discussion was…refreshing? Civil, respectful, and thoughtful, for the most part. Commenters criticised the statement, vented about the astronomical cost of raising children, and bemoaned that their parents had, in fact, not ‘thought like that’ and brought them into this world. If you’re familiar with family dynamics in India, you’ll know these discussions are rare in a culture so deeply fixated on fertility and family. The fact that people are weighing finances, mental health, and environmental concerns when making informed decisions about having or not having children is significant. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that childfree living has been normalised, but it sure is encouraging to see that people are looking at it as a viable option. I’m calling it now: social and cultural attitudes towards childfreedom are at a turning point, and now is the time to engage in this dialogue.

On that note, welcome to The Childfree Circle! After months and months of trawling the internet, listening to podcasts, and scrolling Reddit (shoutout to everyone on r/ChildfreeIndia, best sub to ever exist), I’m now adding my voice to the conversation. I’m excited to launch this newsletter - more in store, soon!

Stay happy, stay (child)free,

~Aditi