Study says it fell from 111 boys per 100 girls in 2011 to 108 boys per 100 girls in 2019-21
Study says it fell from 111 boys per 100 girls in 2011 to 108 boys per 100 girls in 2019-21
The latest study by the Pew Research Center reports that “son bias” is on the decline in India, with the average annual number of “missing” girl children in India falling from about 480,000 (4.8 million) in 2010 to 410,000 (4.1 million). 2019 “missing” here refers to how many more female births would have taken place during this period if there were no female-selective abortions.
The problem began in the 1970s with the availability of prenatal diagnostic technology, which allows abortions based on gender. Among the major religions, the greatest reduction in sex selection appears to be in groups that previously had the greatest gender imbalance, especially among the Sikhs.
Worldwide, boys outnumber girls at birth, at a ratio of about 105 male babies for every 100 female babies. This ratio was higher in India in the 1950s and 1960s, before prenatal sex tests were available nationwide. India legalized abortion in 1971 but the introduction of ultrasound technology led to the practice of sex selection in the 1980s. In the 1970s, India’s sex ratio was comparable to the global average of 105–100, but rose to 108 boys per 100 girls in the early 1980s, and to 110 boys per 100 girls in the 1990s. reached.
“From a large imbalance of about 111 boys per 100 girls in the 2011 Census of India, the sex ratio at birth has moderated slightly over the past decade, narrowing to around 109 in the 2015 National Family Health Survey wave. There has been 108 boys in the latest wave of NFHS conducted from 2019-21,” the report said.
Pew Research Center reports that between 2000-2019, nine million female births went “missing” due to female-selective abortion. The report also analyzed gender selection on the basis of religion, saying that the difference was highest for Sikhs.
“In the 2011 Census, the Sikh sex ratio was 130 males per 100 females, much higher than the national average of 110 for that year. Until the 2011 Census, the Sikh ratio was limited to 121 boys per 100 girls. According to the latest NFHS Accordingly, it is now around 110, which is similar to the ratio of males to females at birth in 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 continues.
The study suggests that while Sikhs make up less than 2% of the Indian population, they account for an estimated 5%, or about 440,000 (4.4 million), of the nine crore “missing” girls in India between 2000. and 2019.
The share of “missing” girls among Hindus is also above their respective population share. “Hindus make up 80% of India’s population, but an estimated 87%, or about 80 million women, “disappear” due to sexually-elective abortions. The study noted that during this period there was a significant increase in women among Muslims and Christians. The share of births in India is “missing”, which is less than the share of each group of the Indian population.
Muslims, who make up about 14% of India’s population, make up 7% of the country’s “missing” girls, or about 5.9 lakh. Christians, who make up 2.3% of the population, have had an estimated 0.6% of the total number of sex-selective abortions, or about 53,000 (0.5 million).