WATERING THE NEIGHBOUR'S GARDEN: THE GROWING - CICRED

136
M. BHAT - F. ZAVIER
of all states. Table 2 shows for all-India the SRB by mother’s background
characteristics.
Table 2 Sex ratio of children aged 0-6 and sex ratio at birth by selected background
characteristics, 2001 Census
Sex ratio at birth
Background characteristics
Sex ratio of
children
Births during
previous year
Birth to women
aged 20-34
All
Residence
107.8 110.4 106.7
Rural 107.1 110.4 106.3
Urban
Religion
110.3 110.6 108.3
Hindu 108.2 110.9 106.9
Muslim 105.3 107.4 105.3
Christian 103.7 103.8 103.0
Sikh 127.3 129.8 119.1
Buddhist 106.2 108.4 105.2
Jain 115.0 118.0 110.5
Other religious communities
Caste/Tribe
102.5 106.5 102.3
Scheduled tribe 102.8 106.4 103.1
Scheduled caste 106.6 108.6 105.8
Others
Mother's age
108.8 111.5 107.4
< 15 na 105.9 na
15-19 na 108.2 na
20-24 na 111.4 na
25-29 na 113.2 na
30-34 na 112.1 na
35-39 na 109.1 na
40-44 na 103.7 na
45-49 na 99.7 na
50+
Mother's educational level
na 75.7 na
Illiterate na 108.7 106.0
Literate but below primary na 110.0 106.3
Primary but below middle na 111.8 107.1
Middle but below Matric/secondary na 113.0 107.5
Matric/ secondary but below graduate na 115.3 109.4
Graduate and above na 114.1 109.7
Numbers (in thousands) 163,820 19,887 237,622
Notes: na - not available/applicable. Source: Census of India, 2001.
In all, nearly 20 million live births were reported during the year
preceding the census. They imply a SRB of 110 males for 100 females.