Indians getting married at higher age, fertility down: Census

Indians are now getting married at higher age than a decade ago and a decline in fertility is also observed, the 2011 Census study released in Delhi said on Tuesday.

It is observed that the female mean age at marriage has increased from 18.3 to 19.3 years, whereas the increase in male is from 22.6 to 23.3 years during Census 2001-11. The proportion of divorced and separated has marginally increased in the case of both the sexes, the report said.

From the data released on marital status, it is observed that, at the national level, the proportion of married women to total number of women is reported to be 49.9% in Census 2011 as against 47.7% in Census 2001.

In case of males, it is 46% in Census 2011 as against 43.6% in Census 2001. On fertility, it is observed that sex ratio of children born in 2011 has declined for all age groups as compared to 2001. However, the decline is more in younger age groups especially below 20, the report prepared by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India said.

There is an improvement in survival ratio and there is an upward shift for all age groups during Census 2001-11. The age specific fertility rate at national level for women in age group 15-49 in five-year age groups has declined in 2011 as compared to 2001.

The total fertility rate at national level has declined from 2.5 to 2.2 during 2001-11. Proportion of widowed has increased from 6.4% in Census 2001 to 7.4% in Census 2011 for females and in males it is increased from 1.8% to 2%.