New Delhi: A viral post on X falsely claimed that the current fertility rate among Muslims is 4.4, while that of Hindus is 1.94. BOOM’s investigation revealed that the post used outdated data for Muslims from the 1992-1993 National Family Health Survey and compared it to recent data (2019-2021) for Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, and Buddhists. This misleading comparison significantly inflated the perceived difference in fertility rates between these groups. The current fertility rates are 2.36 for Muslims and 1.94 for Hindus.
View an archive of the above post here.
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BOOM viewed the latest NFHS report done in 2019-2021, and found discrepancies in the figures provided in the viral post. While the fertility rates of Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and Buddhists are correct, the fertility rate provided from Muslims is erroneously written as 4.4, while the latest NFHS report mentions it as 2.36.
View the fifth NFHS report (2019-2021) here.
Looking at the past reports, we found that the fertility rate for Muslims provided in the viral post matched the figure provided in the first NFHS report from 1992-1993. The following table shows the fertility rates by religion from the first and the fifth report for comparison:
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This suggests that the viral posts misleads users by taking the Muslim fertility rate from first NFHS report (1992-1993), and conflating it with figures from the 2019-2021 data for Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and Buddhists. While the latest fertility rate for Muslims is higher than other religions, an analysis of the data from the past reports show that the Muslim community has also experienced the sharpest decline in fertility rate.
This story is republished from Boom as part of the Shakti Collective. Read the original story here.