WATERING THE NEIGHBOUR'S GARDEN: THE GROWING - CICRED

Sex Ratio at Birth and Excess Female Child
Mortality in India:
Trends, Differentials and Regional Patterns
Perianayagam AROKIASAMY
1. Son preference and female discrimination 1
The sex ratio of India’s population has increased from 103 males
per 100 females in 1901 to 107 in 2001. The century long increase in
sex ratio of overall population and the greater rise in the sex ratio of
children population under 6 years have led to a massive deficit of
females in India. Considerable variations have been observed in the sex
ratio trends across the regions revealing different degrees of female
discrimination. Gender inequalities, and correspondingly the extent of
female deficit, are highest in the northern and central regions of India
and lowest in the southern states. Regional variations in the scale of
gender biases, and gender inequalities in a broader context, reflect the
extent of patriarchy and its demographic influence across the regions.
Female child neglect in nutrition and health care leading to excess
female child mortality was known to be the primary determining factor
of high female deficit in North Indian states until the late 1980s. However,
with rapidly declining fertility in the 1990s, the release of 2001
census results indicated a sharp increase in sex ratio of the child population
in age 0-6. The National Family Health Survey data (NFHS-2,
1998-99) also provides confirmation that sex ratio of recent births in
the northern and western states, was abnormally high, exceeding 110
males per 100 females. In addition, NFHS-2 figures show no evidence
of decline in the levels of excess female child mortality in the states
with high female deficit, although overall child mortality rates have
declined in several states. These two complementary patterns suggest
1 The author acknowledges the assistance of K.S. Bharat Kumar in data analysis.