An investigation into masculinization of sex ratio in India

Sayeed Unisa, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

The decreasing child female to male ratio (FMR) has been one of the important concerns in India’s demography in recent times. The general public concern of late is the apparent association of child FMR and fertility decline. The states of India are in different stages of fertility transition and some of them are experiencing sex selective abortions. It will be worthwhile to identify the states, which contribute to the decline in child sex ratio at the all India level. A decomposition exercise is attempted in this study and problem states are identified. States with initial low FMRs and faster population growth have contributed to all India FMR decline to some extent but it only explained a very small part of the observed decline. We conclude that the decline in all India child female to male ratio is due to significant changes in the regional pattern of child sex ratios.