NEW DELHI, June 10 -- India did what it was asked. For half a century, through sterilisation drives, slogans painted on village walls and quiet visits from health workers, the state told its people to have fewer children, and its people listened. The reward, in the states that listened most faithfully, may be fewer seats in Parliament.

The country's own vital statistics now make the success official. The Sample Registration System statistical report, published by the Registrar General in May, puts India's total fertility rate at 1.9 children per woman, under the 2.1 a population needs to replace itself. As recently as the 2000s the figure stood near 3.3. Al Jazeera reported this week that the world's most populous country has, by its gov...