While the overall child sex ratio has improved in Tamil Nadu, the dip in the boy-girl ratio in at least 14 districts, including Chennai, provides the demographic downside in the provisional population figures of the 2011 Census released on Friday.
According to the datasheet, the child sex ratio (CSR) in the State improved from 942 females per thousand males in 2001 to 946 females per thousand males in 2011, disaggregated data for the districts throw up a skewed gender ratio.
Tamil Nadu is ranked 11th in terms of its CSR.
Of the 14 districts where the CSR has gone down from 2001 levels, the most dramatic reverses have been recorded in Ariyalur and Cuddalore. While Cuddalore recorded a dip in CSR from 957 to 895 (a negative growth of 62 points), the ratio in Ariyalur fell from 949 to 892 (a negative growth of 57).
The districts where CSR recorded negative growth are Chennai, Tiruvallur, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, Coimbatore, Tirupur, Tiruchi, Perambalur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur and Kanyakumari.
Of these districts, Villupuram (-23) and Perambalur (-24) have recorded CSR that are much worse than the national mean of minus 13.
The population in the 0-6 age group has decreased from 72,35,160 in 2001 to 68,94,821 in 2011.
The CSR in this age segment is 946 against 942 in 2001— much better than the CSR in India that worsened from 927 to 914.
The sex ratio has improved from 987 in 2001 to 995 in 2011 in Tamil Nadu though at least eight districts recorded a negative growth. Ramanathapuram fared worst with the sex ratio slipping from 1,036 to 977, followed by Sivaganga, where the ratio came down from 1,038 to 1,000 and Tuticorin, where it dropped from 1,050 to 1,024.
Among the districts to record high increase in overall sex ratio are Chennai (986), Coimbatore (1,001), Salem (954), Erode (992), The Nilgiris (1,041), Thanjavur (1031), Nagapattinam (1,025), Vellore (1,004) and Tiruvarur (1,020).
The other good news is that the gender gap in literacy is narrowing in Tamil Nadu. While the literacy rate for the State increased from 73.5 per cent in 2001 to 80.3 per cent in 2011, female literacy rates improved from 64 per cent in 2001 to 73.86 per cent in 2011.
Launching the provisional data, S. Gopalakrishnan, Director of Census Operations, said post-enumeration surveys would follow in June.
