Sex Ratio Goes Down, So Do The Fertility Rates In India

With the dwindling sex ratio in India, we are heading towards being the most populous country in the world. According to reports, India would overcome China as the most populated country in the world by the year 2027. According to the newspaper reports, India’s sex ratio at birth (SRB), which is the number of female children born to every 1,000 male children fell down to an all-time low in the year 2015-2017. That year, it was 896 female children to 1,000 male children.

Furthermore, there is an added problem. The number of girls missing in the country is also huge, states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan continue to top the list. Records show that the numbers of missing girls are the most from these states.

The north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh which remains under the watchful eye for its political climate accounts for about 34.5 lakh missing girls alone or about 30% of the total. After Uttar Pradesh comes Rajasthan with 14 lakh missing girls, then comes Bihar with 11.6 lakh.

The north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh which remains under the watchful eye for its political climate accounts for about 34.5 lakh missing girls alone or about 30% of the total. After Uttar Pradesh comes Rajasthan with 14 lakh missing girls, then comes Bihar with 11.6 lakh, and then the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat each with the count of 10 lakh missing girls in three years.

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Though the government is taking actions still the situation needs urgent steps and focus. The fertility rate which is defined as the number of children likely to be born as females have dropped steadily. In 2017, it was merely 2.2 against 2.3 in the year 2013. It was estimated to be very close to the replacement level of 2.1 in the same year.

Replacement fertility is the level at which a population can replace itself from one generation to the next without growing or further declining. The replacement level is estimated at 2.1 children per woman. If the rate goes down or below this level, the population starts shrinking.

Though low fertility level is of some good to our country but the skewed sex ratio is definitely not.

Out of all the states, 13 states have below replacement fertility levels. The national capital, Delhi has the lowest levels. Though, there is a great improvement shown by the south Indian states, their fertility levels has gown down from 3.2 in the year 1998 to the current levels of 1.6.

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Though low fertility level is of some good to our country but the skewed sex ratio is definitely not. With the advancement in technology, new methods have come up where parents may know the sex of their child. All this further leads to things like sex-selective abortions which majorly happen in the rural areas.

However, there are some states that are doing extraordinarily well in maintaining a good sex-ratio in their states. Some of those states are Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

But, the count of few states isn't enough to hide the misogyny that happens with girls in other states.

Udisha Srivastav is an intern with SheThePeople.Tv