India's birth control measures resonate among Muslims people, priests play a role

With India set to become the world’s most populous nation this month, the shrinking of its Muslim families underlines the success of its decades-old population control programmes and signals demographic stability, experts say.

Syed Mohammed Talha says he is proud that his seven-year-old daughter attends a prestigious Montessori school in New Delhi.

The school is expensive, with annual fees at ₹2,55,000, but the Muslim businessman says he is happy he can afford it.

"If I had a second child I couldn’t have afforded to send them both to this school," said Talha, 42, who lives in Noida, a satellite city adjoining New Delhi.

"Having just one child allows us to be focused on her, give her a good education, lots of facilities, there are many benefits."

Mr. Talha's pleasure in having a small family underlines a growing trend among India's minority Muslims, long known for large families with the highest population growth rate across India's religious communities.

With India set to overtake China and become the world’s most populous nation this month, the shrinking of its Muslim families underlines the success of its decades-old population control programmes and signals demographic stability, experts said.

Reuters spoke to six Muslim men and women as well as seven community leaders, population experts and Islamic scholars. All agreed there was a marked increase in awareness among Indian Muslims about birth control and family planning.