United Nations Report: India accounts to 45.8 million missing females

On June 30, the United Nations released the State of World Population 2020 report. The report was released by the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF). It is the sexual and reproductive health agency of the world organization.

Highlights

The report says that India accounts to 45.8 million missing females as of 2020. This is a cumulative data for the past 50 years. China accounted to 72.3 million.

According to UNPF, missing females are women missing from the population at given dates. The missing is mainly due to cumulative effect of postnatal and prenatal sex selection.

Female births

Between 2013 and 2017, around 460,000 girls went missing in India at the time of their birth every year. Of this one-third account to post birth female mortality. India alone accounts to 90-95% of missing female births annually.

Female deaths

The report also says that India has the highest rate of excess female deaths, 13.5 per 1000 female births.

The report has highlighted the role of GoI to control the scenario. The cash-transfer initiative “Apni Beti Apna Dhan” has been referred as one of the successful measures. It says that GoI is tackling the problem by spotlighting how girls have changed the society for the better.

Genital Mutations

The report says that around 4.1 million girls are subjected to female genital mutation. The only way to solve this problem is provide education to the girl children and teach them life skills.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2020