According to a study, conducted by researchers from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, and Universite de Paris, France, prenatal sex selection has caused great imbalance in the sex ratio at birth (SRB).
According to the research, published in the journal PLOS ONE, this has been happening since 1970s, when the technology for prenatal sex selection first emerged.
The researchers projected the Sex Ratio At Birth (SRB) in the largest 29 Indian States and Union Territories (UTs), which covered 98.4 per cent of the total population of India as of the year 2011.
The study has found that an estimated 6.8 million fewer female births will be recorded across India by 2030.
Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state, will also have the dubious distinction of having the highest deficits in the birth of girls.
Pre-natal sex selection and the cultural preference for male babies have made India one of the worst affected countries by gender imbalance. India is also unique in its regional diversity of sex ratio imbalance, says the study.
The latest study is different from the previous projections of sex ratio at birth in India. Unlike the latest study, earlier studies were based primarily on expert opinion; reproducible modelling was considered to arrive at the figure.
Among the 21 Indian States or UTs with high quality birth data, 17 showed a positive effective of son preference on the SRB, with the highest SRBs concentrated in the most northwestern States or UTs, the resaerchers said.
The team found that, in particular, the effect of son preference is statistically significant in nine States or UTs.
“We project that the highest deficits in female births will occur in Uttar Pradesh, with a cumulative number of missing female births of 2 million from 2017 to 2030,” the researchers said.
“For the whole of India, summing up the 29 state-level projections, the cumulative number of missing female births during 2017 to 2030 is projected to be 6.8,” they wrote in the study.
The study has projected that 469,000 female birth will be missed annually between 2017 and 2025. This rate will increase to 519,000 per year for the time period 2026 to 2030, says the study.
In India, Pre-conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act is effective since 1994. Under this Act, sex-selective abortions and prenatal sex discernment tests are banned.