There have been demographic changes in India. The fifth edition of NHFS( National Family Health Survey) stated that for the first time there is a demographic shift. The sex ratio has shown positive signs .There are, 1020 women for every 1000 men.
NHFS survey was first rolled out in 1992. Such a sex ratio has not been recorded in the previous 4 surveys. According to 2011 survey, there were 940 women per 1000 men. The data was gathered from 636,699 households. 724,115 women were and 101,839 men participated in the survey.
Rural India fared better than the urban India. Urban India has a sex ratio of 985 females per 1000 males and rural India had 1034 females per 1000 males.
However the sex ratio at birth is still worrisome. The sex ratio for children born in the last five years is 931 in urban areas and 929 in rural areas. This could be due to a prominent preference for a male child and rampant female foeticide in some parts of the country.
12 stares and union territories had fewer women as compared to men. Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chattisgarh and Union territories as Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh, Andaman and Nicobar, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Ladakh and Delhi have a lower female sex ratio.
Kerala has the highest sex ratio, 1121 females per 1000 males.
