Child sex ratio in urban areas decline by three points

Chennai:

The child sex ration in the 0-6 age group group has declined by three points in the urban areas of the state while in rural areas it has increased by three points, according to Primary Census Abstract 2011- Tamil Nadu.

The data reveals that the child sex ratio has increased by three points from 933 to 936 in rural areas while it fell from 955 to 952 in urban areas. Cuddalore (880) has recorded the lowest and The Nilgiris (990) the highest child sex ratio in urban areas.

The data also records that there are 74 lakh children in the age group of 0-6 in Tamil Nadu, which is 1.88 lakh more than that recorded in 2001.

The proportion of child population for the state is 11.5 per cent and both male and female child population have increased marginally during 2001-11. Interestingly, 11 districts recorded proportion of child population less than 11.5 per cent and 21 districts recorded proportion of child population greater than 11.5 per cent.

Interestingly, Chennai has the highest child population in the age group. It has 4.59 lakh children and is followed by Vellore (4.32 lakh) and Kanchipuram (4.31 lakh).

The report also says that there are about 39 lakh children in 0-6 years group in the rural areas while the urban areas have 35 lakh children. The report states that as compared to census 2001, the child population increased by 1.9 million in the state. There has been a decline of 3.21 lakh in rural areas and an increase of 5.1 lakh children in urban areas.

In terms of proportion of child population to the total population, there has been a decline of 1.6 pc in rural areas and 0.9 per cent in urban areas. The growth rate of child population is 2.6 per cent in the decade 2001-2011. However, there has been a decline of 7.6 per cent in rural areas and an increase of 16.9 per cent in urban areas.