Skewed Child Sex Ratios in India: Continuity and Change

Aradhana Singh

The present study analyses the level of masculinisation of Indian population by using the successive rounds of NFHS. Although, the masculinisation at initial ages is still continuing in many states of India as well as in different socio-economic settings, but there is tremendous change in established patterns noticed in the previous studies. The district level analysis presents an intra-state variation in sex ratio helps in identifying the hotspots of the problem. In spite of decline in son preference over the period, it emerges as a major factor influencing the sex ratio at initial stages (birth, childhood and last birth) of life. Decline in son preference and rise in skewed child sex ratio and sex ratio at birth draws attention of researchers towards method of measurement of son preference as people are now more aware of legal consequences of sex selective abortions and under-reporting it.

See paper

 Presented in Session 3. Population, Development, & the Environment; Data & Methods; Applied Demography