Ladakh tops sex ratio at birth, Himachal Pradesh narrows gap

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, May 4

Ladakh leads India’s sex ratio at birth (SRB) charts with all northern states, including Punjab and Haryana, traditionally known for low SRB, posting encouraging figures.

The Registrar General of India’s Civil Registration System Report-2020, published on Tuesday, shows SRB (number of girls born per 1,000 boys) is the highest for Ladakh (1,104), followed by Arunachal Pradesh (1,011), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (984) and Tripura (974). The latest round of civil registration data, the official account of key demographic data, reveals major improvements in Himachal Pradesh’s SRB figures.

The National Family Health Survey-5 (2019) released in December last year found Himachal, along with Goa and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, to be among the only three states with SRB below 900.

In the latest CRS data for 2020, Himachal has improved its SRB to 936, attaining the trend it posted in the National Family Health Survey-4 (2015), which put the state’s SRB at 937. Goa’s SRB is now 947. It was below-900, as per the NFHS-5 (2019). As per the CRS report-2020, the only two states with below-900 SRB are Manipur (880) and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (898).

Demographers say the SRB trend needs to improve further considering the fact that the sex ratio at population level (all ages) went up significantly from 991 to 1,020 between NFHS-4 and 5, crossing the 1,000 mark for the first time ever.

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