One in three adult Indians can’t have the number of children they actually want, with 36% facing unintended pregnancies and 30% unable to achieve their desired family size, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) latest report reveals. The 2025 State of World Population Report argues that the real fertility crisis isn’t about too many or too few babies—it’s about millions of people who can’t make free choices about starting families. Nearly a quarter of Indian adults (23%) face both problems: unwanted pregnancies and unfulfilled desires for children.
India has reached replacement-level fertility at 2.0 births per woman, meaning the population should stay stable over time. But this national average hides a huge split across the country. States like Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh still have high birth rates, while Delhi, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu have fertility rates well below replacement level. These differences reflect gaps in economic opportunities, healthcare access, education, and social attitudes toward women.
Money is the biggest barrier stopping people from having the families they want. Nearly 4 in 10 people in a UNFPA-YouGov survey said financial limitations prevent them from achieving their reproductive goals. Job insecurity (21%), housing problems (22%), and lack of reliable childcare (18%) make parenthood feel impossible for many couples.
Health problems make things even harder for people trying to start families. Poor health affects 15% of people, while 13% deal with infertility and 14% can’t get proper pregnancy care when they need it. Growing numbers of people are also putting off having kids because they’re worried about climate change and whether the world will be stable enough for their children. Nearly one in five people said their partner or family pressured them to have fewer children than they actually wanted.
The report calls for focusing on “reproductive agency”—giving people the power to make informed choices about sex, contraception, and family planning. Rather than panicking about population collapse or explosion, UNFPA says the priority should be removing barriers that prevent people from achieving their actual family goals.
