A baby girl as the second child when the first is a boy is more than welcome and their ratio outnumbers that of male children, a study by a premier hospital in the capital has found.

The sex ratio for second children in the circumstance of the first child being a boy is 1,140 girls per 1,000 boys, according to the study by St Stephen's Hospital. "The sex ratio came down to 629 girls per thousand boys when the first child was a girl, while it rose to 1,140 in case of the first child being a boy," said Jacob Puliyel, head of the paediatrics department in St Stephen's Hospital.

The study indicated that people welcome a girl after a boy, but do not want a girl as their first child, he said.
The findings of the study, presented recently at the International Conference on Global Health in Washington, also established that the overall sex ratio has fallen from 910 girls per 1,000 boys to 865 girls in the last five decades. The team of doctors that conducted the study examined the hospital's  data of 30,000 deliveries in the past 11 decades. 

Interestingly, the ban on sex determination introduced by the government  has not had a significant effect on the sex ratio, the study found. "The Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act was introduced in 1994 and in the past decade, the sex ratio has remained constant at 865 girls per 1,000 boys," Puliyel said.