Study suggests girl child disappearing faster

The numbers of selective abortions have risen steadily over the past 30 years,says the study,using nationally representative data. It estimates the number of missing girl children from 1980-1990 at 1 million,which more than doubled to 2.6 million during 1990-2000.

The first 10 years of the new century saw the cumulative number of missing girl children from the previous 20 years rise by 25 per cent.

The study,Trends in selective abortion of female foetuses in India: analysis of nationally representative birth histories from 1990-2005 and census data from 1991-2011,says data suggest that selective abortion has spread from a handful of states to most parts of the country.

Thus,most of Indias population now lives in states where selective female abortion is common, it says.

According to the study,selective abortion is more common if the first child is a girl,or in families with one or more daughters and no sons.

As family size in India has fallen substantially,it appears that selective female abortion is increasingly being used for second or higher order births if the first born was a girl,in order to ensure at least one boy in the household, the study says.

It adds,however,that the sex ratio of the second born,if the first born is a girl,is lower in families where the mother has had 10 years or more of education,compared with those where she has had no education.

The study notes a sharp decline in the girl-to-boy sex ratio for second order births when the first born is a girl,falling an average of about 0.5 per cent annually between 1990 and 2005.

These declines are greater in educated and in richer households than in illiterate and poorer households, says the study. The sex ratio of the second born has remained unchanged if the first born is a boy.