The sex ratio at birth — the number of females per 1,000 males — in the Capital has crossed 900 for the first time in five years, according to data of registered births released by the Delhi government on Wednesday.
Figure was 901 in 2010
As per the annual report on registration of births and deaths in Delhi in 2016, the sex ratio at birth was 902. Though it was only marginally higher than the sex ratio at birth in 2015 (898), the figure for 2016 marked the first time that the sex ratio surpassed 900 since 2010, when it was 901.
The sex ratio at birth was 893 in 2011, 886 in 2012, 895 in 2013 and 896 in 2014.
The report, released by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, showed that the total registered births in Delhi in 2016 was 3.79 lakh, of which 52.6% were male, 47.4% female and the remaining were of the ‘others’ category, which includes transgenders.
More mothers under 19
While the majority of mothers who gave birth were between 20 and 24 years of age, the number of mothers under the age of 19 increased to 3.10% from 2.75% in 2015.
The proportion of mothers aged 35 years and above also increased marginally.
1.42 lakh deaths in 2016
On an average, the birth rate per 1,000 population was 20.38, with the total number of institutional births being 86.74%.
Meanwhile, the total number of deaths registered in 2016 were 1.42 lakh, up from 1.25 lakh in 2015.
Around 64% of the total registered deaths were in hospitals, with the remaining 36% were domiciliary deaths.
The infant mortality rate, which is the number of deaths of infants under one year of age per 1,000 live births, decreased to 21.35 in 2016 from 23.25 in 2015.
According to the report, since the average births per day were 1,036 and the average deaths per day 387, the net natural increase in Delhi’s population was 649 per day or 2.37 lakh a year.
Apart from that, migration from other States also added to the population.
