India's Census 2011 showed a child sex ratio (0–6 years) of 914 girls per 1000 boys — a decline from 927 in 2001. The 'sex ratio at birth' (SRB) is the preferred indicator over child sex ratio for detecting sex-selective abortions because:
- A Child sex ratio is affected by higher female mortality and sex-selective induced abortion in the 0–6 age group ✓
- B SRB directly captures births and is unaffected by differential childhood mortality
- C SRB measures only live births and therefore excludes stillbirths that inflate the denominator
- D Child sex ratio overestimates male preponderance because boys are underregistered
Explanation
The child sex ratio (CSR, ages 0–6) reflects both sex ratio at birth AND excess female childhood mortality (differential care, disease, neglect). Therefore, a low CSR cannot be solely attributed to sex-selective abortion. The SRB (usually expressed as male births per 100 female births, normal ~105:100) captures the biological and sex-selective forces at the moment of birth, making it a cleaner indicator of prenatal sex discrimination. India's PCPNDT Act targets exactly this — preventing sex determination to avoid selective female foeticide. CSR conflates both prenatal and postnatal discrimination.
Reference: Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, 27th ed.
High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP
Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.