The document summarizes research on trends in selective abortions of girls in India from 1980 to 2010. It finds that selective abortion of girls has increased over the last two decades, with 4.2 to 12.1 million girls aborted over this period. Selective abortion is now common across India and is most prevalent among wealthy, educated households and families who already have one daughter.

1. TRENDS IN SELECTIVE
ABORTIONS OF GIRLS IN
INDIA FROM 1980-2010
Centre for Global Health Research (CGHR)
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
prabhat.jha@utoronto.ca
Release: Lancet, May 24, 2011
Sources of support:
NIH (US); CIHR, IDRC & LKSKI (Canada)
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS
Twitter: @CGHR_org

2. Conclusions
- Selective abortion of girls has increased in last two
decades
-Selective abortion more common among the most
wealthy, and most educated households
- 4.2 to 12.1 million or M girls aborted from 1980-2010
- About 3.1 to 6.0 M in the 2000s (~1/2 of total)
- About 1.2 to 4.1 M in the 1990s
- About 0 to 2.0 M in the 1980s
-Risk of selective abortion of girls is highest in families
with a first daughter
- Selective abortion of girls is now common all over India
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS
Twitter: @CGHR_org

3. What’s new about this research?
- First study documenting recent trends
in conditional sex ratios, over 15 years,
from 1990 to 2005
- Estimates of the number of selective
abortions of girls over the last 3
decades
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS
Twitter: @CGHR_org

4. How as the study done?
Trends in “conditional” sex ratios:
- Girls or boys don’t “run” in families: the chances of a second girl or
boy do not depend on the gender of firstborns
- We studied conditional sex ratios and compared against the West
- Used 3 rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) - a
large, national survey which resembles the whole of India:
NFHS-1
NFHS-2
NFHS-3
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS
Twitter: @CGHR_org

5. Declines in sex ratio of second
born when firstborn was a girl
*Red brackets show the natural sex ratio range of 950-975 girls per 1000 boys.
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS
Twitter: @CGHR_org

6. Declines in sex ratio of second born
when firstborn was a girl, by education
No education
10 or more
years of
education
(matric)
*Red brackets show the natural sex ratio range of 950-975 girls per 1000 boys.
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS
Twitter: @CGHR_org

7. Declines in sex ratio of second born
when firstborn was a girl, by wealth
*Red brackets show the natural sex ratio range of 950-975 girls per 1000 boys.
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS
Twitter: @CGHR_org

8. 4-12 million (M) girls aborted over the
last 3 decades
Number of aborted girls calculated over last 3 decades
using the 1991, 2001 and 2011 Census of India.
Census 1991 Census 2001 Census 2011
1980 1990 2000 2010
1980-2010
totals:
4 to 12 M
0 to 2.0 M
1.2 to 4.1 M aborted
aborted girls
aborted girls 3.1 to 6.0 M girls
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS aborted girls
Twitter: @CGHR_org

9. Child sex ratio of girls to boys at ages 0-6
in 2001 and 2011 for the districts of India
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS
Twitter: @CGHR_org

10. District-level changes in child sex ratio at
ages 0-6, between 2001 to 2011
Number of
Districts %
Large decline (greater than
278 49
national decline of 1.4%)
Small decline (in line with 127 23
national average)
No change, or improvement 158 28
• More than double the number of Indian districts (n=405)
showed decreasing sex ratios, compared to those showing no
change or an improvement (n=158)
•Every 1% decline in child sex ratio at ages 0-6 years implies
1.2 to 3.6 million more selective abortions of girls
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS
Twitter: @CGHR_org

11. Distribution of Indian population living
in states with varying child sex ratios
90% of Indians now live in states where the sex
ratio is abnormal (i.e. below a natural level of
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS
Twitter: @CGHR_org 950-975 females for every 1000 boys)

12. Conclusions
- Selective abortion of girls has increased in last two
decades
-Selective abortion more common among the most
wealthy, and most educated households
- 4.2 to 12.1 million or M girls aborted from 1980-2010
- About 3.1 to 6.0 M in the 2000s (~1/2 of total)
- About 1.2 to 4.1 M in the 1990s
- About 0 to 2.0 M in the 1980s
-Risk of selective abortion of girls is highest in families
with a first daughter
- Selective abortion of girls is now common all over India
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS
Twitter: @CGHR_org

13. www.cghr.org/girls
Twitter: @CGHR_org
- Article
- Web appendix
- Press release (English and Hindi)
- Video press release
- FAQs
- PowerPoint slides
- District-level child sex ratios in 2001 and
2011 in excel format
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS
Twitter: @CGHR_org

14. District-level changes in child sex ratio at
ages 0-6, between 2001 to 2011
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS
Twitter: @CGHR_org

15. Declines in sex ratio of second
born when firstborn was a girl
- Sex ratio of the second born, if firstborn was a
girl, has fallen during the period of 1990-2005,
compared with no change if the firstborn was a
boy
- This conditional sex ratio fell from 906 in 1990
to 836 in 2005 (natural sex ratio is between 950-
975)
INTERPRETATION: Selective abortion of girls
has increased over the last two decades
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS
Twitter: @CGHR_org

16. Declines in sex ratio of second born
when firstborn was a girl, by education
- Sex ratio of the second born, if firstborn was a
girl, was lower in families where mother had 10
years or more of education, compared to those
with no education
- The gap in selective abortion of girls increased
over time between these two groups; conditional
sex ratios fell for the most educated, but saw no
change for those with no education
INTERPRETATION: Selective abortion of girls has
increased the most in educated households
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS
Twitter: @CGHR_org

17. Declines in sex ratio of second born
when firstborn was a girl, by wealth
- Sex ratio of the second born, if firstborn was a
girl, was lower for the richest 20% of households,
compared to the poorest 20%
- This gap widened between 1990-2005;
conditional sex ratios fell for the richest 20% of
households
INTERPRETATION: Selective abortion of girls has
increased most for the richest 20% of households
CGHR.ORG/GIRLS
Twitter: @CGHR_org