Declining Juvenile Sex Ratio in India: Theoretical Investigations

Type Working Paper - Journal of Population Studies
Title Declining Juvenile Sex Ratio in India: Theoretical Investigations
Author(s)
Volume 25
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2003
Page numbers 97-109
URL http://www.hips.hacettepe.edu.tr/nbd_cilt25/shekhar_ram.pdf
Abstract
It has been widely recognized that sex ratio (number of female per thousand male) is an important indicator to study the various aspects of a population, especially human development. In India, six point increase shown by 2001 census in overall sex ratio is applauded at several forums. However, decline in juvenile sex ratio has been a serious concern among social think tanks of the country. This paper investigates the related issues assuming that sex ratio technically depends on three factors: sex ratio at birth, sex-specific survival probabilities of juveniles and the degree of accuracy in age reporting by sex. Moreover, sex differentials in the accuracy of age reporting are either absent or negligible in population below 10 years of age. The paper clearly shows a continuous decline in sex ratio in considered age groups, particularly in age group 0-4, at the national and the state level at the last four censuses, besides few states level exceptions for 1981 census. Similar trends are observed for other two age groups 0-6 and 0-9. Interestingly, decline in juvenile sex ratio persists over the years. Nevertheless, the improvements in overall survival chances for female have installed for significant period. It reflects the postnatal discrimination again girls are weakening. Therefore, declining child sex ratios in India indicates an increase in sexselective abortion.

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