Demography of sterilization: Indian experience.

Using program statistics and a few local studies, the paper examines the prevalence of sterilization in India and makes demographic analysis of the performance. Major points of note are that the prevalence rates expressed in terms of currently married women showed irregular fluctuations across time and the age pattern of acceptance hardly agreed with that of the married population. The selectivity of high fertility couples for sterilization had been fairly high, resulting in a low fertility impact. Estimates of births averted due to the program were derived by using a computerized microsimulation model CONVERSE. It appears that the path of fertility changes was not smooth in the last decade and the impact has been, as a rule, greatest 2 years after acceptance.