SEX RATIO

Next to the size and growth rate of population, demographers are interested in sex ratio of population. According to Census of India 2001, the sex ratio of India 's population is 933 females per 1,000 males, showing a relative deficit of females. Table 6.4 shows the changes in sex ratio in India . It shows that in the last century the overall sex ratio of population has declined. This could partly be due to the fact that males were the earlier beneficiary of improvement in mortality. The last census, however, showed an improvement of 4 points.

There are urban rural differences in sex ratio, mostly indicating male selectivity in rural-urban migration. The urban sex ratio is 900 and the rural sex ratio is 946. There are also state wise differences. Kerala with a sex ratio of 1,058 has the highest sex ratio. At the bottom is Haryana which has a sex ratio of 861. Sex ratio in age group 0-6, called child sex ratio, is of special interest.