What is the current Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of India according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), 2015 - 16?

The correct answer is A) 2.2. NFHS-4 (2015-16) put India's Total Fertility Rate at 2.2 children per woman, down from 2.7 in NFHS-3 (2005-06). The rate has fallen below the replacement level of 2.1 in many states, but the national figure was still just above it in that round.

• B) 2.4 is not the NFHS-4 national figure. It is a number that appears in state-level and other comparisons, so do not pick it for the national TFR.
• C) 3.2 and D) 3.4 are far too high. Such values reflect the early 1990s, when NFHS-1 (1992-93) recorded about 3.4.

The core concept is the demographic transition: TFR falls as female literacy, institutional deliveries, contraceptive use and child survival improve. For Mains, this links to population stabilisation under the National Population Policy 2000 and to state-wise differences in fertility.

Note that the latest round, NFHS-5 (2019-21), reported a national TFR of 2.0, so the figure is now lower than the 2015-16 value.

Trap: aspirants mix up the replacement level (2.1) with India's NFHS-4 figure, or quote the NFHS-5 value for a question set on NFHS-4.