India records below-replacement fertility as family costs reshape choices

Verification record

• 📚 8 verified sources — Al Jazeera - Costs, careers and choice: Why Indians are having fewer children · UNFPA - State of World Population 2025: The real fertility crisis · Economic Times - Fertility rate in rural India declines to replacement rate for the first time, overall rate down to 1.9 · Times of India - Rural India's total fertility rate dips to replacement rate · Eurostat - Fertility statistics · European Commission - The impact of demographic change in a changing environment …
• 🧠 High confidence — AI-checked, editor-approved
• 🇧🇪 Belgian impact: Medium
• 📜 Provenance recorded & timestamped