A MULTI-LEVEL QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE RELATION OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS WITH THE GENDER RATIO IN INDIA

Abstract

For many years, India has been one of the top countries with an unnaturally skewed gender ratio towards the male gender. This implies the clear evidence of pre-natal selection and/or selective abortion in the country. While a lot of research has been conducted encapsulating the probable cultural factors (on a country-wide level) that adversely affect the gender ratio, only a few have used regression models to model the relationship between factors such as literacy rate and sex ratio. Hence, in this paper, I have utilised data that spans over 30 years from the Reserve Bank of India to model the relationship of various socio-economic factors such as poverty rate and literacy rate with the sex ratio in various Indian states. This was done through a multi-level model with the Indian states as the second level, in order to model the variation in sex-ratio due to the cultural and historical diversity in Indian states as well. It was found that over 90 per cent of variance in sex ratio could be explained through the random effects of Indian states. Findings also indicate a positive relationship of sex ratio with literacy rate and poverty rate. A negative relationship between the percentage of rural population in an Indian state and its sex ratio was also found.