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Mahesh

24/08/22 05:20 AM IST

Pew Report on Sex Ratio at Birth in India

In News 
  • The latest study by Pew Research Center has pointed out that “son bias” is on a decline in India and the average annual number of “baby girls missing” in India fell from approx. 4.8 lakh in 2010 to 4.1 lakh in 2019.
Key Findings 
  • Average annual number of baby girls “missing” in the country fell from 480,000 (4.8 lakh) in 2010 to 410,000 (4.1 lakh) in 2019.
  • The “missing” refers to how many more female births would have occurred during this time if there were no female-selective abortions.
  • Bridging the Sex Ratio at Birth Gap: From a large imbalance of about 111 boys per 100 girls in India’s 2011 census, the sex ratio at birth appears to have normalised slightly over the last decade.
  • Sex Ratio at Birth in India narrowed to about 109 in the 2015-16 wave of the National Family Health Survey and to 108 boys in the latest wave of the NFHS, conducted from 2019-21.
  • Sex-Selective Abortions: The Pew Research Center report points out that between 2000 and 2019, nine crore female births went “missing” because of female-selective abortions.
Religion wise sex selection 
  • Among Sikhs: The report has also analysed religion-wise sex selection, pointing out that the gap was the highest for Sikhs.
  • The study points out that while the Sikhs make up less than 2% of the Indian population, they accounted for an estimated 5%, or approximately 440,000 (4.4 lakh), of the nine crore baby girls who went “missing” in India between 2000 and 2019.
  • In the 2001 census, Sikhs had a sex ratio at birth of 130 males per 100 females, far exceeding that year’s national average of 110.
  • By the 2011 census, the Sikh ratio had narrowed to 121 boys per 100 girls.
  • It now hovers around 110, about the same as the ratio of males to females at birth among the country’s Hindu majority (109).
  • Both Christians (105 boys to 100 girls) and Muslims (106 boys to 100 girls) have sex ratios close to the natural norm, and this trend is holding.
Sex Ratio 
  • It is the number of females born per thousand males.
  • It is an important indicator to map the gender gap in a population.
  • The sex ratio report in India is published by the Registrar General of India.
Source- The Hindu 

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