Hyderabad: Indicating that female foeticide may still be rampant, the latest numbers from the Civil Registration System (CRS) that records births and deaths shows that Telangana is among the worst performing states on sex ratio at birth (SRB). The state saw a marginal improvement in the number of girls being born compared to boys in 2024 over the previous year, but it is still shockingly below par, falling behind some traditional laggard states.Telangana recorded 910 girls for every 1,000 boys born in 2024. The number is up from 906 in 2023, but well below the national average of 933. Among the major states, only Jharkhand (890), Bihar (894) and Gujarat (908) reported lower SRB.Telangana also ranked at the bottom among the southern states. Kerala recorded an SRB of 970, Karnataka 946, Tamil Nadu 938 and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh stood at 929.The figures mark a sharp reversal from 2019 when Telangana had recorded an SRB of 953. The ratio subsequently declined to 937 in 2020 and 922 in 2021 before slipping further to 907 in 2022 and 906 in 2023.The state’s SRB has fallen by 43 points over the past five years despite Telangana registering 7.7 lakh births in 2024, including 4,03,397 boys and 3,67,219 girls. The CRS report noted that the ratio was calculated after adjusting for delays in registration by excluding births registered more than a year after they occurred. Telangana registered 11,533 births after a delay of more than one year in 2024.“The ratio indicates that female workforce participation will drop in the future. It underscores the need to continuously improve nutrition and maternal health for girls,” said Dr Subodh Kandamuthan, professor and director of Dr Kakarla Subbarao Centre for Health Care Management and Centre for Public Policy Governance and Performance at ASCI.“Gender budgeting is the need of the hour to strengthen women empowerment and welfare schemes,” he added.Calling the latest numbers alarming, Sabu Mathew George, an activist who has worked for more than three decades on curbing female foeticide and infanticide, said Telangana’s trajectory was particularly worrying because states such as Haryana, which had historically recorded poor gender ratios, had improved their numbers.“If the trend continues, society will face serious consequences. A shrinking female population can lead to increased violence and social tensions, and poorer men may find it increasingly difficult to get brides,” he said.Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) based on Registered Events, 2024State/UT SRB 2024Arunachal Pradesh 1050A & N Islands 984Meghalaya 974Mizoram 972Kerala 970Chhattisgarh 962Uttar Pradesh 954Rajasthan 953Assam 951West Bengal 950Jammu & Kashmir 948Karnataka 946Tripura 946Manipur 945Ladakh 944D&N Haveli and Daman & Diu 944Madhya Pradesh 943Uttarakhand 943Puducherry 943Tamil Nadu 938Odisha 934Himachal Pradesh 934Chandigarh 933Andhra Pradesh 929Delhi 925Goa 922Punjab 921Maharashtra 918Haryana 910Telangana 910Gujarat 908Bihar 894Jharkhand 890Lakshadweep 865Nagaland 806India SRB (2024): 933 females per 1,000 males.
