Bihar has recorded the lowest sex ratio at birth for 2022 among all States and Union Territories, reporting just 891 girls born for every 1,000 boys, according to the Civil Registration System’s vital statistics report, released this week by the Office of the Registrar General of India.
Bihar is also the only State that has seen its sex ratio at birth declining consistently since 2020, the year from which this data is available for the State. In 2020, the State reported a sex ratio at birth of 964, which fell to 908 in 2021, before further dipping to 891 in 2022.
This comes ahead of the Bihar Assembly election, at a time when political parties have been actively targeting women voters, including with promises of cash transfers in polls in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand. In 2024, 47.6% of Bihar’s 7.64 crore electors were women, though voter turnout in the State during the 2024 general election showed that 50.4% of votes polled came from women.
Other States with low sex ratios at birth in 2022 were Maharashtra (906), Telangana (907), and Gujarat (908). On the other hand, Nagaland had the highest figure of 1,068, followed by Arunachal Pradesh (1,036), Ladakh (1,027), Meghalaya (972), and Kerala (971). Assam, which had reported 863 girl babies born in 2021 for every 1,000 boys, the lowest ratio for that year, showed an improvement to 933 in 2022.
Delayed reports
A month after the Office of the RGI released the Civil Registration System (CRS), Sample Registration System (SRS), and Medical Certification of Cause of Death (MCCD) reports for 2021, after a four-year-delay, the government this week released the CRS and MCCD data for 2022 as well. However, the SRS report for 2022 has not yet been made public.
The SRS is the largest demographic survey in the country, meant to provide annual estimates on fertility and mortality indicators, including birth and death rates. The CRS and MCCD reports provide data on registered births and deaths, and the causes of medically certified registered deaths respectively.
Drop in deaths in 2022
The CRS report showed that there were 86.5 lakh registered deaths in 2022, a stark drop from the 102.2 lakh registered deaths in 2021, the year in which the COVID-19 pandemic took its highest toll in the country. The Hindu has previously reported on how the 2021 data, recording ‘excess deaths’ in comparison to the norm, showed that the initial government reporting of COVID-19 deaths for the year was an underestimate.
The CRS 2022 data also showed a hike in registered births, rising to 254.4 lakh registered births, in comparison to 242 lakh the previous year.
Birth, death registration trends
State-level birth registration statistics in the 2022 report show that, since 2013, States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Uttarakhand have seen a general trend of registered births rising, despite occasional dips. On the other hand, States and UTs like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Delhi saw a general decline in registered births, despite fluctuations.
Of the total registered births in 2022, 52.4% were boys while 47.6% were girls. While about 43% of the births were registered in rural areas, 56.5% were registered in urban areas. The report added that the number of registered stillbirths in 2022 fell to 1.15 lakh from 1.24 lakh the previous year.
Of the total registered deaths in 2022, the shares of men and women were 60.4% and 39.6% respectively. The report showed that 59.5% of the registered deaths were in rural India while 40.5% were in urban areas.
Published – June 08, 2025 01:34 am IST
