In Kerala's tranquil backwaters and captivating scenery, subtle yet significant population shifts are taking place. Kerala's religious, cultural, political, and social fabric will undoubtedly be impacted by the worrying change in the state's religious makeup, which goes beyond the boast of high literacy rates and "progressive" social indices.
 
The think tank Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) recently released a paper that explores the relationship between religious demography and reproduction rates. Concerns over potential religious-demographic disparities in the states are brought up in the study.

The paper, Religious Demography of India: Rising Religious Imbalance in the Declining Fertility Regime of kerala, was published by CPS india on january 30, 2025. The study examines Kerala's birth and death rates by religious group using data from the Annual Vital Statistics Report for 2008–2021.
 
Muslims' percentage of live births increased, while Christians' and Hindus' percentages decreased.
 
After 2015, Muslims in kerala surpassed Hindus, who make up 54% of the state's population, in terms of live births, according to a CPS india report. In 2019, Muslims accounted for 44% of all live births, while Hindus accounted for 41%. It should be mentioned that according to the 2011 census, Muslims make up about 27% of Kerala's population.
 
The proportion of Muslims in all live births increased dramatically between 2008 and 2021, surpassing Hindus in several years. Meanwhile, the proportion of Hindus in all live births decreased significantly, with same patterns observed for Christian total live births.
 
In 2008, there were 2,41,305 Hindu live births (45.04%), 1,94,583 Muslim live births (36.32%), and 94,175 Christian live births (17.58%). Hindu and Muslim live birth rates increased in 2009 (45.51% and 3761%, respectively), while Christian live birth rates slightly decreased (16.61%).
 
Hindu live births totaled 2,46,297 (45.03%) in 2010, followed by Muslim live births (2,09276; 38.26%) and Christian live births (88,936; 16.26%). Although it was the final time Kerala's total live births reached 5,60,268 in 2011, there was a discernible increase in Hindu, Muslim, and Christian live births in 2011 before a sustained fall in the years that followed.
 

 

 
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G GOWTHAM

01/02/2025 10:16 AM