India, Most Dangerous Place For Girl Child

By SiliconIndia,Wednesday, 01 February 2012, 04:01 Hrs

Bangalore: India is the most dangerous place in the world for a baby girl. As per the newly released data of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), an Indian girl child aged 1-5 years is 75 percent more likely to die than an Indian boy child, making it the worst gender differential in child mortality for any country in the world.

As per the data, infant (0-1 years) and child (1-5 years) mortality is declining in India and across the globe, although not at a fast pace as was hoped in India. At the same time, the rest of the world is experiencing a faster fall in female infant and child mortality in comparison to male child mortality. This is on account of well established biological factors which make girls better survivors of early infancy given equal access to resources. But, sadly world's two most populous countries, China and India resist this trend.

The survey conducted in 150 countries over 40 years shows that India and China are the only two countries in the world where female infant mortality is higher than male infant mortality in the 2000s. While India shows better infant mortality sex ratio than China with 97 male infant deaths for every 100 female. China shows 76 male infant deaths for every 100 female infant deaths. The number is 122 male infant deaths for every 100 female infant deaths in the developing world as a whole. In the neighboring countries like Sri Lanka the number is 125 and 120 in Pakistan.

Dr. S. Akhtar Ehtisham