India's declining birth rate signals a global demographic shift beyond wealthy nations

Summary

India is shifting from a decades-long narrative warning about overpopulation to now cautioning about declining birth rates. The country's historical approach included aggressive sterilization campaigns in the 1970s, often targeting the poor forcibly. With school textbooks being updated to reflect this new concern about too few babies, India's demographic shift serves as a warning that fertility decline is not limited to wealthy nations.