Examining the Effect of Prenatal and Postnatal Factors in the Context of Changing Pattern of Sex Ratio Among Under-Five in India

Ajit Yadav, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Faujdar Ram , International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

There has been a drastic decline in child sex ratio in India and many of its states. Prenatal factors, such as sex selective abortion, and postnatal factor, such as sex differentials in mortality, account for this decline. Child sex ratio may also be affected by sex differentials in the omission rate in the census count and by inter-state migration at the state level. This paper aims to estimate the contribution of prenatal and postnatal factors to the changing child sex ratio in India and its major states. I decompose changes in child sex ratios into a ‘fertility’ component attributable to prenatal sex selection and a ‘mortality ‘component attributable to sex differentials in postnatal survival in changes of the child sex ratio during 2001-2011 by residence. It would be interesting to know the contribution of sex selection and excess female child mortality to the decline of child sex ratio.

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 Presented in Session 11. Health & Mortality 2