Sex differentials in Indian mortality: recent changes and implications for sex ratio

"In this paper, the recent changes in sex differentials in India's mortality are studied first to ascertain the relative improvements and secondly to study the impact of these changes on [the] sex ratio of the population. The analysis...indicates that the reduction in mortality rates during 1971-1991 was higher for females, particularly...during 1981-91. The narrowing down of the gap between male and female mortality rates had started in the late 1970s and all the indicators considered here suggest that, at present, there is an excess of male mortality in India. The mortality change was favourable for improvement in sex ratio; the analysis shows that the changes in mortality differentials by sex alone would have led to an increase in sex ratio by more than 10 points during the last decade. Further analysis suggests that the sex ratio at birth in India changed considerably during the last decade and [that] most of the reduction in sex ratio [that] occurred during 1981-91 can be attributed to these changes."