There are more boys than girls born in India. The discrepancy is becoming more marked with every census, and is greater in urban than rural areas and amongst higher socio-economic groups. It is not a natural process as there are more male than female stillbirths and infant mortality ratios are equal.
The situation is even more apparent in households where the first-born is a girl – the next child is much more likely to be a boy – rather than another girl. In other words, the sex of the existing child or children affects the sex of the next born.
Jha et al (Lancet 2006;367:211-8) traced these trends by conducting interviews in over one million households. They postulate that prenatal sex testing with abortion of female fetuses is the most likely explanation which fits with India’s common ideology. Although illegal and officially condemned (Sheth pp 135-6) the practice of ultrasonic or amniocentesis sex determination is widespread and it is calculated that in that country alone 10 million female fetuses have been aborted in the last two decades. China is also suspected of having a similarly discriminatory attitude, and the world figure of “missing presumed dead” female babies is estimated at 100 million.
