In the last two years, the number of births has decreased while the number of deaths has increased within the Thane city.
The decrease in births, according to experts, is a part of the social change that gynaecologists have been observing since the last few years and predict that it would continue to decrease post the Covid pandemic as well.
Meanwhile, the increase in deaths could be due to the Covid or increased awareness to register deaths, according to civic experts. Although only around 5% of overall deaths in the last two years are due to Covid, as per TMC records, there continues to be suspected Covid deaths as well that could have led to increase in the figures.
While 2019 recorded 23,985 births, 2020 saw a considerable decrease at 22,203 births while last year, only 19,430 births were registered. In the first six months of 2022, the city has recorded only around 8,777 births.
“The decrease in births during the pandemic could also be because of the lockdown when many migrants went to their hometowns and did not return for a year or so. They must have given birth in other parts of the State or the country. Moreover, there are many who come to Thane from other regions within the Mumbai Metropolitan region (MMR) for better medical facilities. They must have avoided such travel during the lockdown, leading to a decrease in births,” said a medical officer from TMC.
Meanwhile, the decreasing birth rate has also been observed to be a part of a change in society. “This is part of a social change that is being observed all around. With the increase in the cost of living and education, we can notice that people from all strata of the society and economic class are opting for a single child now-a-days. This is one of the major reasons that there is an overall decrease in birth rate,” said Dr Mahesh Bedekar, gynaecologist, Thane.
“Moreover, times have changed and with late marriages, many conceive late. All of these contribute to lower birth rates. It will continue to go lower for a few more years post the pandemic as well. During the pandemic, there were instances of couples thinking about waiting till the pandemic ended to conceive. However, this was a very marginal number,” added Bedekar.
Among the total 48,698 deaths that have been recorded from 2020 till now, 2,023 were of children. The Covid deaths overall are only 2,131 in the last two years. However, deaths due to other causes are 39,472 from 2020 till now. In 2019, there were only around 12,721 recorded deaths. The number increased drastically in 2020. As per records, most of these are due to cardiological problems, tuberculosis, paralysis and kidney ailments.
“However, the deaths related to Covid have been recorded as such and there could be many who recovered from Covid but faced other health issues after a few months. These are not considered Covid deaths, but an increased awareness to register deaths with the local civic body could also be the reason for increase in death figures,” said Vipin Sharma, TMC commissioner.
A similar trend was noticed in Mumbai as well. According to the BMC data, Mumbai city recorded 1.20 lakh births in 2020 while it dipped to 1.13 lakh in 2021.