Results of the 2001 Census show that the child sex ratio, defined as the number of female children in the 0-6 age group per 1000 male children, has registered a whopping 32-point decline in urban areas over the last ten years, while it has declined in rural areas by 14 points.
The Census also shows that the difference between the sex ratios of rural and urban areas has gone up, from around 13 in 1991 to 31 in 2001, indicating that urban areas have been the worst offenders in terms of female foeticide.
While the 1991 Census did not throw up any district in the country with a child sex ratio less than 800 in urban areas, the 2001 Census puts the number of such districts at 24. These districts house 4.7 per cent of the country