Increasing Masculinity in Child
Sex Ratio: An Assessment of
Emerging Issues
R. S. Bora
Institute of Economic Growth
Introduction
mentioned, any value below 953
females per thousand males would
give the deficit of girls; accordingly,
the Census 2011 shows the deficit
of girls in 26 states and union territories.
The composition of population by male and female is one
of the primary demographic characteristics of human population. The sex ratio is generally known as the ratio of
women to men. A century old Indian demographic history
records that in the matter of sheer numbers, the female
ratio in total population has always remained unfavorable.
Well in this regard, however, for the first time since 1971,
the aggregate sex ratio estimated to be highest, i. e., 940
females per thousand males in 2011. The increasing trend
over Census 2001 from 933 to 940 females per thousand
males has been considered a kind of boost in the general
sex ratio of the country. In spite of this increase, it is still
far below than the natural sex ratio and unfavourable to
females. The natural or normal sex ratios at birth are found
to lay between 970 and 943 females per 1000 males for
most of the societies, on this basis, the demographer all
over the world reached on the consensus and suggested an
average figure of 953 females per 1000 males. Any value
below this figure would give the actual deficit of females.
Regarding the child sex ratio, the biological ratio at birth is
always in favour of males, assuming the sex ratio to be
unity or one thousand females per one thousand males is
not correct. It is also biologically true that female child
mortality in the ea &ǒ