Fertility
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India vs. Pakistan in one graph
X.T.M argues that GDP per capita, not total GDP, is the right India–Pakistan comparison. India overtook Pakistan after 2009, he says, because Pakistan’s higher fertility grew its population faster, while…
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The Patriarchy Survives Everything
Prompted by a heated thread on the Philippine birth rate, X.T.M rejects a commenter’s proposal to restrict women’s education and work as a cure for falling fertility, argues that falling…
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The Philippines Birth Rate Crash
The post reports that the Philippines’ fertility rate fell from 4.1 in 1993 to 1.7 in the 2025 survey, the steepest drop on record, and asks why anyone expected the…
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The Changing Demographics of Undivided India (1900–2025)
The author charts Muslims’ share of undivided India’s population, from about 20% in 1900 to roughly 33% in 2025. He credits higher fertility and partition migration, and argues falling fertility,…
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Demographic Destiny: Power and Identity in India
X.T.M surveys how demography shapes talk of destiny and identity in India, from the Hindi belt’s ‘cradle race’ to long-run shifts in the Hindu share of the subcontinent’s population, which…
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Fear of a Bihari nation
A note on diverging fertility in neighbouring regions: Bihar at about 3.0 against West Bengal at 1.6, suggesting West Bengal’s earlier population growth reflected the arrival of Hindus from East…
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The once and future India
The author compiled total fertility rates by administrative division across India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, noting that India is a big country with, for example, Uttar Pradesh near 3.1 and West…
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Total fertility rate map in South Asia
A short post sharing a map of total fertility rates across South Asia, noting interesting subregional trends.
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Hindu philosophy was mathematical, but Hindu nationalists are innumerate
Razib Khan recalls early-2000s alarm that Islam would dominate European societies, says Philip Jenkins’s work changed his mind, and applies the same demographic reasoning to argue that Hindu nationalists, despite…
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India’s massive fertility gradient
Razib Khan points to the fertility gap between Bihar (total fertility rate about 3.3) and West Bengal (about 1.6) as one of the largest in the world, comparing it with…
