Sex ratio
The number of females for every 1000 males.
Sex ratio is expressed as females per 1000 males. A value below 1000 means women are outnumbered. India recorded 943 at the 2011 census. The measure is sensitive to migration as well as to birth and death rates, so industrial districts that draw male workers often show a low ratio without that reflecting anything about births.
Where you will see this on the site
This term appears in the census tables reproduced across state, district, tehsil and village pages. How we source and handle those figures is set out on the about the data page.
Related terms
- Tehsil · The administrative unit between a district and a vi…
- Revenue village · The smallest unit with its own land records, which …
- Child sex ratio · Females per 1000 males counting only children aged …
- Literacy rate · The share of people aged 7 and over who can read an…
- Rural and urban · How the census decides whether a place counts as a …
- Household · A group of people who normally live together and ea…
Page last reviewed: August 2026. Back to the glossary