|
By
Daily Mail ReporterLast
updated at 1:56 AM on 25th May 2011 The Daily Mail
Girl talk: Data from India's census showed the country's
population comprised of 914 girls under age six
for every 1,000 boysIn
a society that values the birth of a baby boy over
that of a girl it's still an alarming fact that
an increasing number of Indian families with one
girl are aborting subsequent pregnancies when prenatal
tests show the baby is also female.
It may be a surprise to some that the decline in
the number of girls is more pronounced in richer
and more educated households, according to research
published in the medical journal Lancet.
These figures show that a law passed in 1996 banning
gender testing on a fetus has been largely ineffective,
the study said.
In India, there is a huge cultural preference for
boys mainly because of the enormous expense in marrying
off girls and paying elaborate dowries.
Officials have acknowledged that current laws have
proved inadequate at combating the widening sex
ratio gap.
The study found that between four million and 12
million girls are thought have been aborted between
1980 and 2010.
Raw data from India's census released in March showed
the country's population comprised of 914 girls
under age six for every 1,000 boys.
Only a decade ago, many were horrified when the
ratio was 927 to 1,000.
Researchers studied census data and government surveys
of more than 250,000 births to conclude that gap
is even wider in families that already have a girl.
The ratio was 906 girls under six to every 1,000
boys in 1990 and had declined further by 2005, when
it was 836 to every 1,000.
That decrease was even more marked in families where
the mothers were wealthier and had been in education
for 10 years or more compared with poor and uneducated
mothers.
It is presumed that the wealthy are more easily
able to obtain illegal abortions.
In India, there is a huge cultural preference for
boys mainly because of the enormous expense in marrying
off girls and paying elaborate dowries
The
study also found that in families whose first child
was a boy, there was no decrease in the girl to
boy ratio for the second child.
'Reliable monitoring and reporting of sex ratios
by birth order in each of India's districts could
be a reasonable part of any efforts to curb the
remarkable growth of selective abortions of girls,'
the study suggested.
Prof. Prabhat Jha of the Centre for Global Health
Research, Dalla Lana School of the University of
Toronto headed up the team of researchers who included
the former Registrar General of India, Jayant K.
Banthia.
According to the current CIA 'World Factbook,' America
has a birth ratio of 955 girls per 1,000 boys.
In China, where families with a strong preference
for boys sometimes resort to aborting baby girls,
there was a birth ratio of 885 girls per 1,000 boys.
The factbook puts India's birth ratio at 893 girls
to 1,000 boys.
India tracks gender ratios for children under the
age of six but not at birth.
Explore more:
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1390481/Millions-Indian-babies-aborted-mothers-want-girls.html#ixzz1NLz6AlFN
|
|
Also
find us on: |
|
....... |
Useful
downloads
To view, listen or watch some materials in our
sit, you will need the following |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|