City Beautiful has worst rural sex ratio in country

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 1

Chandigarh has the lowest sex ratio among rural areas in the country. The National Health Profile-2019, the annual health data publication of the Ministry of Health, reveals that while Kerala has the best sex ratio (number of females per 1,000 males) for both urban and rural areas, Chandigarh has the worst rural sex ratio.

Overall, while the urban sex ratio has improved in the past few years, corresponding gains in villages have been very low.

The profile says Chandigarh also has the second lowest sex ratio nationally after Daman and Diu, which has 618 females per 1,000 males, the worst in the country.

“The sex ratio in the country has improved from 933 in 2001 to 943 now. In rural areas, the sex ratio has increased from 946 to 949. The corresponding increase in urban areas has been of 29 points from 900 to 929. Kerala has recorded the highest sex ratio in respect of the total population (1,084), rural population (1,078) and urban (1,091). The lowest sex ratio in rural areas has been recorded in Chandigarh (690),” the government document says.

As India struggles with a skewed sex ratio, gains are far and few.

Data shows the sex ratio of 18 states and UTs is above the national average while that of 17 states and UTs is still below the national average. So far as the sex ratio goes, as against the national average of 943, Chandigarh has 818, Haryana 879, Himachal Pradesh 972, Punjab 895 and Jammu and Kashmir 889, says the document.

After Kerala, Puducherry with 1,037 females per 1,000 males is the second best in the sex ratio followed by Tamil Nadu (996/1,000), Andhra Pradesh (993/1,000), Chhattisgarh (991/1,000) and Meghalaya (989/1,000).

“The lowest sex ratio of 618 females per 1,000 males was reported by the UT of Daman and Diu followed by Chandigarh (818/1,000), the NCT of Delhi (868/1,000), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (876/1,000), Haryana (879/1,000), Jammu and Kashmir (889/1,000), Sikkim (890/1,000) and Punjab (895/1,000),” the profile shows.

All states in the region, however, are doing better than others in combating infant mortality.

As against the infant mortality rate of 34 deaths per 1,000 live births nationally, the corresponding rate in Chandigarh is 14, Punjab 21, J&K 24, and Haryana 33.