Facts:
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Sex ratio measures the number of females born for every 1,000 males.
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Total girls missing in world due to sex selection – 142 million
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Total girls missing in India due to sex selection – 46 million
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The number of missing women has more than doubled over the past 50 years, who were at 61 million in 1970.
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India’s sex ratio is 940 females to 1,000 males: 2011 Census
State of the World Population 2020 report:
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The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has released this report
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The report examines the issue of missing women by studying sex ratio imbalances at birth as a result of :
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gender-biased sex selection
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excess female mortality due to deliberate neglect of girls because of a culture of son preference.
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With the advent of technology and increased access to ultrasound imaging, female foeticide has increased.
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This translate into long-term shifts in the proportions of women and men in the population of some countries, the report points out.
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India has the highest rate of excess female deaths at 13.5 per 1,000 female births or one in nine deaths of females below the age of 5 due to postnatal sex selection.