Missing women: demographic unbalance in the Indian population

Antonella Rondinone

(Abstract)

India is a country with a long history of low female sex ratio. The last census carried out in 2001 registered a sex ratio of 93 females to every 100 males as compared to a global average of 99 to 100. The greatest gap between males and females is found in the first age group (0-6 years old). This is mainly due to the strong preference for the male offspring that manifests itself in a disparity in the allocation of the family resources like food, medical care, clothing etc. often in such an extent as to cause the death of the less wanted female counterpart. Statistics show that in some areas female infanticide is a common practice to solve the problem of an undesired daughter. Recently, the advent of new technology and the legalisation of abortion have given rise to the spreading incidence of sex selective abortion. The estimation of missing females in the Indian population reaches 62 millions.

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