Key points
- Sex ratio falls since 2020
- Birth rate down from 2016
- Son preference growing stronger
NEW DELHI, India: India’s capital city, New Delhi, is witnessing a concerning demographic trend – fewer children being born, and among them, fewer girls.
According to the recently released Annual Report on Registration of Births and Deaths in Delhi 2024, both the birth rate and the sex ratio are on a downward trajectory – a pattern experts attribute to persistent patriarchal norms and societal pressures.
Delhi’s sex ratio, once seen as improving, has now reversed course.
After peaking at 933 females per 1,000 males in 2020, the ratio dropped to 932 in 2021, 929 in 2022, and further to 922 in 2023, according to The Hindu newspaper, which cited the annual report.
The birth rate tells a similar story: from 20.16 births per 1,000 people in 2016, it dipped to 13.13 in 2021, recovering only slightly to 14 in 2024.
Son preference
Niharika Tripathi, a Sociology professor at Delhi University’s Indraprastha College for Women, said in an interview with The Hindu that the drop reflects intensified son preference within smaller families.
“Earlier, families had four or five children. Now, many want just one or two. But the perception remains – if you have a boy, your family is complete,” she explained.
Tripathi also pointed to Delhi’s well-known safety issues for women and continued access to sex-selective procedures as aggravating factors.
Praveen K Pathak, Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Centre for the Study of Regional Development, echoed these concerns.
“With rising living costs, parents are hesitant to divide limited resources. Sons are still seen as providers and heirs. It’s a cultural issue amplified by economic anxiety,” said Pathak, who studies demographic changes.
“Fewer but male”
Behind these numbers, government officials quietly acknowledge a deeper crisis. A senior health department official admitted that the desire for “fewer but male” children is widespread.
“This is a mindset issue that will take time to change,” the official said, while also pointing to misuse of Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT), which, though banned for sex determination, remains widely available.
Even legal protections seem to falter. The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, meant to prevent sex-selective practices, suffers from weak enforcement. In the past year, only 10 per cent of required inspections were completed.
“We’ve now asked for weekly reports and at least one decoy operation per month,” the official added.
