Christianity, polygamy, tribal insecurities — Meghalaya has a high fertility problem

But Meghalaya is an outlier, with its fertility rate as high as 2.9 children per woman.. In the towns and villages of the state, women carrying babies in makeshift cloth slings are a common sight..

We see that 20 per cent of them (teenagers, women above 35 years) are not supposed to be pregnant [these two groups fall outside the ideal childbearing age], the senior health official said...

Donie Pearlin Syiem, senior medical and health officer at a primary health care centre in Pomlum village said nuns in a remote village in the South West Khasi Hills told her to avoid talking about birth control methods such as a copper IUD or tubectomy and stick to natural methods of contraception..

Though there is no official data, a study conducted for the period of 2016-2018 by the Meghalaya State Commission for Women titled Exploratory Study on the Socio-Economic Status and Problems of Single Mothers in Meghalaya, stated the prevalence of single motherhood could range up to 15 per cent or more of the total population of women who have ever married or become mothers...

Marwein, who has visited over 30 villages and interacted with 800 respondents for a study about the utilisation of healthcare services among pregnant and lactating women, said the regions were plagued by rampant poverty.They have no exposure to the outside world...

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