Rise in voluntary denial of fatherhood among young Indian Men

Minakshi Vishwakarma, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Ankit Kumar Singh, Manipal Institute of Technology

Voluntary childlessness, which has been evident in developed nations, has now reached India as well. This study aims to explore the rise in the prevalence of voluntary childlessness and the factors associated with it among young Indian men. The percentage of voluntary childlessness among men aged 15-34 has increased from 0.3% in 2005-06 to 6% in 2019-21. The proportion of men with no children ever born, who reported having an ideal number of zero children, rose from 1% in 2005-06 to 5% in 2019-20. In 2019-21, around 21% of men aged 15-34 with no children ever born did not express an aspiration to experience fatherhood in the future. Among men aged 15-34, factors such as age and marital duration contributed the most to the increase in voluntary childlessness between 2015-16 and 2019-21. It alarms the need to change the policy and programs that are currently focusing on fertility reduction in the future, especially for the states where TFR has already reached much lower than the replacement level.

Keywords: Fertility

See extended abstract.