Rural Chandigarh Has 690 Women Per 1,000 Men

The latest National Health Profile (NHP) report has pointed out the abysmal sex ratio in rural parts of Chandigarh. The situation is alarming with 690 females per 1,000 males. However, Kerala’s sex ratio ranks the highest in both urban and rural settings at 1,091 and 1,078 respectively per 1,000 men.

The annual compilation of health indicators and data in the country, NHP showed that the overall sex ratio of India has improved from 933 in 2001 to 943 in 2011. The rate of improvement of sex ratio has been faster in urban areas as compared to rural areas as in urban areas it rose from 900 to 929 while in rural, it increased from 946 to 949.

The Union Territory of Daman and Diu (818), Chandigarh (818), Delhi (868), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (876), Haryana (879), Jammu and Kashmir (889), Sikkim (890) and Punjab (895) show the lowest growth in sex ratio of the entire population

Southern parts like Kerala (1084), Puducherry (1037), Tamil Nadu (996), Andhra Pradesh (993) and Chhattisgarh (991), and Meghalaya (989) have shown highest sex ratio in the country.

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The national capital accommodates the highest percentage of population per square kilometre in the country with 11,320 people, which is why its poor sex ratio is also disturbing. Chandigarh comes second in terms of high population density with 9,258 population per sq km and Arunachal Pradesh ranks the lowest with 17 people per square kilometre. The country’s average population density is 382 persons per square kilometre.

While a large percentage of population is moving towards the cities, 70% of the country’s population stile resides in the rural parts. And urban areas have more healthcare facilities than rural. A researcher associated with the ministry’s National Health Resource Repository Project estimated that urban areas have 70 per cent of health facilities whereas rural areas only 30%.

Picture credit- Womenpla.net

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