India’s sex ratio at birth normalises slightly

Social Issues Gender issues

Context: As per the study by Pew Research Centre, the “son bias” is on a decline in India.

The sex ratio at birth have normalised slightly over the last decade.
It was 111 boys per 100 girls in India’s 2011 census.
As per latest National Family Health Survey (2019-21), it is 108 boys per 100 girls.
The average annual number of baby girls “missing” in India fell from about 480,000 in 2010 to 410,000 in 2019.
The “missing” here refers to how many more female births would have occurred during this time if there were no female-selective abortions.
Between 2000-2019, nine crore female births went “missing” because of female-selective abortions.

Among religion-wise sex selection, the gap was the highest for Sikhs.
The sex ratio among Sikhs hovers around 110, as compared to 130 males per 100 females in 2001.
Both Chirstians (105 boys to 100 girls) and Muslims (106 boys to 100 girls) have sex ratios close to the natural norm.
While the Sikhs make up less than 2% of the Indian population, they accounted for 5% (4.4 lakh) of the 9 crore baby girls who went missing India due to sex-selective abortions.
Hindus make up 80% of India’s population but accounted for 87% (0.8 crore) of the females missing.
In India, fertility has declined across all groups in recent decades, though Sikhs have lowest rates, and Muslims the highest.

In India, son preference may be tied to cultural practices that make daughters more costly to raise than sons.
In Indian tradition, only sons pass down the family name, thereby carrying on the family lineage.
In Hinduism, sons are expected to perform last rites for deceased parents, including lighting the funeral pyre and scattering their ashes.
Sons have also been a way for families to preserve ancestral property because males generally dominate inheritance lines.
Daughters, meanwhile, often take wealth away in the form of large dowries at the time of marriage, with payments sometimes continuing throughout a daughter’s life.
And while sons continue to live in the parental home after marriage, with wives who often become the primary caregivers for aging in-laws.
A daughter is expected to move away from her parents and into her husband’s family home.
These cultural and religious traditions are often tied to geographic norms.
In Northern and Western India, for example, patriarchal and patrilineal family systems are more dominant than in other parts of India, particularly the South.

Fertility and birth order also play an important role in these choices.
Families who are planning to have just one or two children may be more inclined to abort a female to ensure having at least one son.
NFHS data shows that women who are wealthier and more educated are less likely to favor having sons.
Factors like education, wealth and urbanicity can make it easier for a woman to get access to (and pay for) an ultrasound test or other prenatal sex screening.