The Indian family welfare program has been dominated for decades by a reliance on female sterilization. NFHS results, however, show that Indian women tend to undergo sterilization only after giving birth to many children. This finding implies that further reliance on sterilization is not likely to reduce total fertility much below the current level of 3.4 children per woman. Efforts to continue India's fertility decline need to place more emphasis on temporary contraceptive methods.

The NFHS Subject Reports is a series summarizing secondary analysis of data from the 1992-93 National Family Health Survey (NFHS) in India. The NFHS collected information from nearly 90,000 Indian women on a range of demographic and health topics. Conducted under the auspices of the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the survey provides national and state-level estimates of fertility, infant and child mortality, family planning practice, maternal and child health, and the utilization of services available to mothers and children. IIPS conducted the survey in cooperation with consulting organizations and 18 population research centers throughout India. The East-West Center and a U.S.-based consulting firm, Macro International, provided technical assistance, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided financial support.