Religion and Female–Male Ratios in India

Swati Narayan

Indian Journal of Human Development, 2018, vol. 12, issue 3, 441-452

Abstract: The 2011 Indian census affirms that child sex ratios of Muslims and Christians (as Abrahamic religions) are “normal†, but those of Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists (as Dharmic religions of Indian origin) are below par, due to increasing sex-selective abortion. One probable explanation could be that the scriptures of Abrahamic religions—especially the Quran—explicitly forbid female infanticide, a practice common in Pagan Arabia in the Middle Ages. Therefore, most of India’s neighbours, including Muslim-dominated Pakistan and Bangladesh, have normal child sex ratios and the epicentre of the problem of low child sex ratios in South Asia is now largely concentrated in India. Historical census data also suggests that this acute gender bias is perhaps a recent phenomenon as before the widespread usage of ultrasound technology for sex determination; sex ratios of Hindus were in fact better than Muslims in India.

Keywords: Sex ratios; child sex ratios; sex selective abortion; missing women; religion; South Asia; India; Hindu; Muslim (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:inddev:v:12:y:2018:i:3:p:441-452

DOI: 10.1177/0973703018813799

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