India's disappearing females.

Sex-selective abortions and infanticide in India have dramatically altered the sex ratio among children during the past decade, according to a new report from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The result could be a severe shortage of women in the future.

India's sex ratio,

already out of balance in favor of males, dropped from 945 girls per 1,000 boys under age 6 in 1991 to 927 in 2001; nearly a 2% decrease. The situation is worse in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Gujarat, where the ratio dropped to fewer than 800 girls per 1,000 boys. Murder due to gender discrimination persists in these places despite the cultural deification of little girls as goddesses, notes Sushma Swaraj, India's minister for health and family welfare.

India's missing-girl problem stems from families' preference for sons, who carry the family name and occupation forward into the future, says UNFPA India representative Francois Farah. Sons also perform religious rites and support their aging parents, while girls must be married off. Despite laws prohibiting sex selection, female fetuses and newborns are routinely killed. "It is not a rare phenomenon," says one woman quoted in the report. "It happens without any hindrance."

But if the trend continues, the population of potential mothers will dwindle, and making up for the missing girls will become increasingly difficult. The UNFPA is teaming with Indian leaders to promote awareness of the trend both in the media and in cultural institutions, and to combat gender violence and discrimination in social practices.

Source: Missing: Mapping the Adverse Child Sex Ratio in India, United Nations Population Fund, 220 East 42nd Street, New York, New York 10017. Web site www.unfpa.org.