Sex Ratio at Birth

August 12, 2019 November 17, 2019

The state-wise data on sex ratio at birth (SRB) tabled by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare makes the following observations:

The sex ratio at birth (SRB) which is defined as the number of female births per 1,000 male births, improved from 914 to 919 between the third and fourth National Family Health Surveys (NFHS), carried out in 2005-06 and 2015-16 respectively.
The highest improvement was noticed in Punjab at 126 points, but its SRB remained among the lowest among the states at 860 in NFHS-4.
The sharpest decline was in Sikkim, where the SRB dropped 175 points to reach 809, the lowest among all states in 2015-16.
Next, to Punjab, Kerala showed the highest improvement in SRB with122 points from 925 in 2005-06. Its 1,047 in 2015-16 was the highest SRB among all states.