Sex ratio at birth in Ludhiana down from 964 to 907, district ranks 17th in Punjab

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, May 6

In what appears to be a matter of concern, the sex ratio at birth (SRB) in Ludhiana district has dipped drastically by a whopping 57 points from 964 in 2019 to 907 in 2020, the Registrar General of India’s Civil Registration System Report-2020 has revealed.

Not only the SRB (females per 1,000 males) in district was 18 points less than the state average of 925, Ludhiana ranked poor 17th in Punjab with only five districts – Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur and Muktsar – recording less than 907 SRB, the official figures have confirmed.

The report on vital statistics of India based on the Civil Registration System-2020, released by the Registrar General of India, a copy of which is with The Tribune, showed that a total of 50,916 births were registered in Ludhiana district during 2020, of which 26,701 were males and 24,215 were females, taking the SRB to 907.

Surprisingly, the rural areas showed better sex ratio as compared to urban areas in Ludhiana. While 913 girls were born against every 1,000 boys in villages, the city areas recorded 906 female births against every 1,000 male births registered last year.

Of the total 4,528 births registered in the rural areas of the district, 2,368 were males and 2,160 were females while 24,333 boys and 22,055 girls comprised 46,388 births registered in the urban areas of Ludhiana in 2020.

As was the case with the overall situation, the rural and urban SRB in Ludhiana was also much lower than the state average of 934 in rural areas and 917 in urban areas.

While Barnala and Moga shared the top position in the state with the highest SRB of 965 each, Faridkot remained the laggard with the lowest SRB of 887.

Besides Faridkot, other four districts where the SRB was recorded less than that of Ludhiana were Gurdaspur 896, Ferozepur 897, Fatehgarh Sahib 899, and Muktsar 905.

Among the better performing districts (other than Barnala and Moga), Amritsar and Pathankot reported SRB of 925 each at par with that of Punjab, Barnala 965, Bathinda 909, Fazilka 913, Hishiarpur 912, Jalandhar 914, Kapurthala 918, Mansa 930, Patiala 936, Ropar 949, Sangrur 928, Mohali 948, Nawanshahr 908 and Tarn Taran recorded SRB of 929.

Pertinently, Ludhiana district’s sex ratio at birth for children born in the last five years was recorded at 964 in 2019, which was up from 862 in 2014. This was much more than the state’s average of 904 in 2019, which was up from 860 in 2014.

The state’s ratio had included 931 in rural areas and 858 in urban areas, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) released in December last had revealed.