Data reduction techniques for estimating TFR in Indian states

Kushagra Gupta, Banaras Hindu University
K.K. Singh, Banaras Hindu University
Brijesh P. Singh, Banaras Hindu University

Fertility is an important factor for population growth and crucial issue for the developing country like India. India is a vast country and has cultural, social, demographic and behavioral diversities. This variability complicates the problem of estimation of fertility for country as a whole. In general, the tempo of fertility is explained by so many indicators like Crude Birth Rate, General Fertility Rate, Age Specific Fertility Rate and Total Fertility Rate (TFR). TFR gives the precise and most widely used indicator of fertility. This can also be used for knowing the tempo of fertility in comparative manner. The data has been taken from the most recent round of Indian Demographic Health Survey called as National Family and Health Survey (NFHS-III). In the present study, data reduction technique has been applied on ASFR to estimate the TFR for the different major states of India. The reduced data set explain the about 86% variation of fertility. This data reduction has been further utilized to estimate TFR. Some indirect techniques have been suggested and the reliable estimates for TFR have been obtained for the different major states of India.