Urban India’s male preference still telling in Census data

Despite boasting better education and living standards, India’s city-dwellers still have a lot to learn from their counterparts living in villages when it comes to respect for the girl child.

The female-male sex ratio in rural areas has been consistently higher than in urban India even decades before Independence, the latest Census data for 2011 shows.

The sex ratio in rural India has remained consistently above 900 women for every 1,000 men since 1901. But the ratio in urban areas fell from 910 women in 1901 to about 858 on average over the next nine decades. It was only in 2001 that a turnaround was seen, with the ratio returning to 901. In 2011, the ratio was at a century high of 929 women for every 1,000 men.

Setting an example

Kerala continued to set an example for the rest of the country when it comes to the sex ratio, which favours women at 1,084 women for every 1,000 men. Puducherry was another highlight with its ratio of 1,037 women.

Tamil Nadu rounded up the list of the top three States which have positive sex ratios, with 996 women for every 1000 men. South India has done well in general, with Andhra Pradesh also having a fairly balanced ratio of 992 women for 1,000 men.

Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli have the lowest ratio on the list, at 618 and 773 respectively. This is largely because a considerable portion of the population in the two union territories are highly-skilled migrant workers whose families remain in their native States.

But this doesn’t hold true for Chandigarh. The capital of Punjab and Haryana has just 817 women to show for every 1,000 men.

National capital Delhi also has some deep-seated issues with women, it would seem, judging by its poor sex ratio of 867. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim and Punjab are the other laggard States, with less than 900 women for every 1,000 men.

There are 78.8 million girls in the 0-6 years age group in the country, constituting 47.9 per cent of the population. Another 95.6 million girls are in the 11-18 years age bracket.

According to Census data, of the total women counted in the country in 2011, 42.9 per cent were never married, 48.9 per cent were married and 8.2 per cent were widowed, divorced or separated. The mean marriage age for women stood at 21.2 years. Among the major States, the highest mean age at marriage was 22.6 years in Kerala and the lowest was 20.3 years in West Bengal.

The latest available information shows that out of 162.8 million households in rural areas in 2009-10, 19.2 million (11.8 per cent) were headed by women. In urban areas, the corresponding ratio was 11.6 per cent of the total 68.3 million households.

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