Sex ratio in Udupi district at its lowest

The sex ratio in Udupi district has been at its lowest in the last 110 years even as Dakshina Kannada district has recovered from its worst rate recorded in 1971.

The provisional figures released by the Directorate of Census Operations, Karnataka, show that the sex ratio (number of females per thousand males) which had touched 1,165 in 1961 in Udupi district has now come down to 1,093. It is closer to its previous worst record in 1921 when it was 1,099.

Decrease

When compared to 2001 census figure (1,130), it has suddenly come down by 37 points which appears to be alarming.

Never in its 110-year demographic history has the district witnessed such a steep fall in sex ratio. Yet the district has maintained its top slot among the districts in the State as far as sex ratio is concerned.

In Dakshina Kannada, the slump is marginal over the previous census figures. Dakshina Kannada, which was second best in terms of sex ratio in 2001 in Karnataka's district-wise ranking, has slipped to the third position in the latest census.

The decadal growth rate of population of Udupi is at its lowest in the last 90 years. The population in 2001-11 decade grew by 5.90 per cent compared to Dakshina Kannada's growth rate of 9.80 per cent.

These rates are far lower than the State's growth rate, which is 15.67 per cent. The previous lower records for Udupi were in 1901-11 (2.63 per cent) and 1922-21 (2.89 per cent). Interestingly, the first two decades of the 20th century had shown lower population growth in Dakshina Kannada.

Like in Dakshina Kannada, the child sex ratio (of population in the age group of 0-6) in Udupi district too has come down from 958 (per thousand) in 2001 to 955 in 2011.