India’s Sex Ratio at Birth Begins To Normalize
In India, women with fewer children have a greater excess of boys
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- India’s Sex Ratio at Birth Begins To Normalize
- Convention sex ratio
- Number systems
- India’s sex ratio at birth has been moving toward balance in recent years
- Sex ratios at birth vary among India’s religious groups, but differences are shrinking
- Hindus and Sikhs account for a disproportionate share of India’s ‘missing girls’
- Azerbaijan, China, Armenia, Vietnam, Albania and India had world’s most male-biased sex ratios at birth from 2000 to 2020
- In India, ultrasound use now less closely tied to abortion of female fetuses
- India’s sex ratio at birth appears to be narrowing as son preference has weakened even though ultrasound use has risen
- Son preference in India has fallen most among Sikhs
- Among Indian women, Sikhs are the most likely to have an ultrasound exam during pregnancy
- In India, overall fertility rates have fallen, and gaps among religions have shrunk
- Indian women without a son are more likely to want another child
- How regions of India are defined in this section
- India’s sex ratio gap has shrunk rapidly in the North
- Several Indian states, including Punjab and Haryana, saw significant narrowing in sex ratio gap
- Sikhs are the wealthiest of India’s major religious groups; Muslims are the most urban
- In India, Sikhs and Muslims have larger upper-caste shares than other Indians
- India’s Tribal women are the least likely to practice sex selection
- Birth ratio difference between India’s upper and lower castes is narrowing
- Birth ratio difference between India’s upper and lower castes remains wide among Sikhs
- Wide confidence interval for Sikhs’ sex ratio estimate
- Woman holds a baby at rally on International Women’s Day in 2018 in Jhunjhunu, India.
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