Case study Kerala, India – Population policy
Kerala is an Indian state in the Southwest of the country. It is one of India’s most densely populated states but it has
the countries lowest birth rates.
Kerala's approach (Remember use so or because to link sentences for Level 2/3)
Improving education standards and treating girls as equal with boys so……………………..
91% of people in Kerala literate compared to 61% in India so…………………………
Infant mortality rate per 1000: Kerala 10 India 33 meaning that…………………..
Birth rate per 1000 Kerala 17 India 22
Providing adult literacy classes in towns and villages so……………………………..
Educating people to understand the benefits of smaller families so…………………………………
Reducing infant mortality so people no longer need to have so many children because…………
improving child health through vaccination programmes so…………………………
Providing free contraception pills, condoms and advice so…………………………..
encouraging a higher age of marriage so……………………………..
Allowing maternity leave for the first two babies only because……………………..
Providing extra retirement benefits for those with smaller families so……………………
Women in Kerala marry on average 4 years later and have their first child 5 years later than other Indian
women. Therefore………………………
Food programmes focus on mothers and children using ration cards and free school lunches so …………………
In Kerala more girls go to university than boys and education is taken to even the most remote villages. Land in Kerala
was redistributed so that no one was landless. No family was allowed more than 8 hectares and everyone could be selfsufficient. This does however disadvantage large families.
Has Kerala’s approach led to sustainable development?
Kerala has managed to control its population growth by investing in healthcare and education while still allowing people
the freedom to choose their own family size. However, Kerala could stop growing within 30 years.
This could create new problems. Kerala could become an ageing state with low fertility and mortality. This could provide
economic problems for the government with an ageing population because they don’t bring in taxes and they cost a lot
of money to keep healthy in hospitals and medical centres. Also it would mean that more pensions would have to be paid
being another economic problem for Indian’s government.
A mobile medical centre for rural parts of Kerala
Women’s education a vital part of Kerala’s strategy for improvement
Rural Kerala an ageing population is going to cost the Indian government
through pension payments and healthcare. Economic reason.