Sex ratio in rural areas better than in urban areas

Sex ratio at birth and in all ages in rural areas is better than in urban areas, according to the first district-wise annual health survey (AHS) of nine states
released today.

Only six districts out of 284 accounting for half of the country's population have a positive sex ratio, according to the AHS, described as the largest demographic survey in the world.

Pithoragarh district of Uttarkhand reported the lowest sex ratio of 764 girls to 1000 boys at birth, while Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh had the highest of 1,030. The Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB), denoting the number of female live births per 1000 male live births, was lowest in the state of Uttarakhand while Chhattisgarh recorded the highest.

Morena district of Madhya Pradesh had lowest child sexRatio of 787 as well as lowest sex ratio of 818 for all ages, but Kawardha district of Chhattisgarh recorded the highest child sex ratio of 1,076 for 0-4 years and Tehri Garhwal
district of Uttarakhand recorded the highest sex ratio of 1,220 for all ages.

Across all the nine AHS states, sex ratio at birth, between children of 0-4 years and for all ages in rural areas is significantly higher than that of urban areas, as per the survey report. The health survey for 2010-2011, carried out in 284 districts of the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Assam is representative of half the country's population and would help enumerate health policies at the district level.

While there are only six district having a positive sex ratio, four districts in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan had sex ratio at birth lower than 800.