India is the most populous country in the world today. With more than 140 crore people, this is not just a population figure, but also a big strength and an equally big challenge. About 65% of the country’s population is young, which is often called the demographic dividend. If this population gets good education, health, employment and necessary facilities, then it can become India’s biggest strength. But for this, balanced development and effective family planning are equally important along with population. The pace of population growth in India has definitely slowed down in the last few years, but the total population is continuously increasing. In such a situation, the impact of family planning policy is not limited only to the birth rate, but also affects the health, safety of women, economic condition and the life of the coming generations. Today, World Population Day, is an opportunity to draw attention to such issues. However, despite government schemes and awareness campaigns, the responsibility of family planning still rests largely on women. Government statistics show that the participation of men in the matter of permanent family planning i.e. sterilization is very less. In the year 2023-24, only 0.5 men underwent sterilization, while the number of women was 73 times more.
If we look at ground level figures, the picture appears even more shocking. In Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, till May 2026, only one man underwent sterilization, while 544 women underwent this operation. Whereas, out of 28,842 permanent sterilizations done in the district between 2021 and 2025, only 37 men and 28,805 women were involved. That means the share of men in total sterilization was only 0.13%, while that of women was 99.87%. This means that out of every 1,000 sterilizations, about 999 women and only one man were sterilised. Muzaffarpur district of Bihar is also included among the very poorly performing districts in terms of family planning. According to the April evaluation report of the State Health Committee, the achievement of vasectomy here was zero percent. On the basis of seven major indicators, the district got a weighted score of 15.75 and reached the last position among all the 38 districts of Bihar. On the contrary, Sheikhpura stood first with 63.27 points, Siwan stood second with 62.79 points and Jehanabad stood third with 49.23 points.
Vasectomy is still very low in the country
According to the National Family Health Survey NFHS-6 (2023-24), currently the share of vasectomy in family planning methods of married women in India is only 0.5%. It has been recorded at 0.4% in cities and 0.5% in villages. The good thing is that there has been a slight improvement as compared to 0.3% in NFHS-5 (2019-21), but this increase is still very marginal. On the other hand, female sterilization remains at 36.5%, which means that the responsibility of permanent family planning still rests almost entirely on women. Experts believe that lack of awareness, social thinking and myths spread about vasectomy are the biggest reasons for this.
Telangana is at the forefront
If we talk about states, Telangana is at the forefront in the entire country in vasectomy, where 3.6% couples have adopted this method. After this, Himachal Pradesh (2.3%), Sikkim (1.8%), Chhattisgarh (1.4%), Maharashtra (1.1%), Haryana (0.9%), Madhya Pradesh (0.9%), Puducherry (0.9%), Andhra Pradesh (0.8%) and Uttarakhand (0.8%) are included in the top-10. The performance of all these states is better than the national average of 0.5%. The special thing is that in many states of South and Central India, the participation of men is seen to be higher as compared to other states. The figure of Telangana alone is almost seven times more than the national average.
Vasectomy almost zero in many states
On the other hand, the status of vasectomy in many states and union territories is almost negligible. In Mizoram and Andaman and Nicobar Islands this figure is 0.0%. Apart from these, Arunachal Pradesh (0.1%), Goa (0.1%), Nagaland (0.1%), Tamil Nadu (0.1%), Tripura (0.1%), Uttar Pradesh (0.1%), Ladakh (0.1%) and Lakshadweep (0.1%) are included in the bottom 10 states and union territories. This picture clearly shows that the hesitation regarding vasectomy has still not ended in many parts of the country.
Female sterilization is still the biggest support for family planning.
According to NFHS-6 (2023-24), currently 36.5% of married women in the country have undergone female sterilization for family planning. However, in NFHS-5 (2019-21) this figure was 37.9%, which means there has been a slight decline. Andhra Pradesh (69.5%) is at the forefront among the states. After this, in states like Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Odisha, female sterilization is much higher than the national average and more than half of the couples here have adopted this method of permanent family planning. At the same time, the percentage of female sterilization is relatively low in states like Manipur (not included in NFHS-6), Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Delhi, where people use more temporary or other modern contraceptive methods.
The picture regarding family planning in India is slowly changing, but the pace of change is still quite slow. At the national level, male sterilization is 0.5% and female sterilization is 36.5%, which shows that the burden of permanent family planning still rests almost entirely on women. Unless men’s participation increases, the responsibility of family planning will not be divided equally. Awareness, correct information and change in social thinking can be the biggest way to reduce this gap.
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