States with worst child sex ratio in 2003* | ||
State | 2003 | 2001 |
Punjab | 776 | 793 |
Himachal Pradesh | 803 | 897 |
Haryana | 807 | 820 |
Uttar Pradesh | 853 | 916 |
Rajasthan | 855 | 909 |
Bihar | 861 | 938 |
Gujarat | 862 | 878 |
States with most favourable child sex ratio in 2003 | ||
Tamil Nadu | 953 | 939 |
Karnataka | 943 | 949 |
West Bengal | 937 | 963 |
overall india | 883 | 927 |
Source: Office of Registrar General, figures released in October 2003. *Sex ratio: No. of girls for 1,000 boys. | ||
By a conservative estimate, female foeticide accounts for at least half-a-million missing female births in India every year, according to research findings published last month in the British medical journal, Lancet. The Lancet study estimates that more than 10 million female foetuses may have been aborted in India in the last two decades. | ||