Sex Selection: Pervasiveness and Preparedness in Nepal : Executive Summary

This study is aimed at identifying the incidences, causes and determinants of pre-natal sex selection in four of the eight districts of Nepal (as well as Kathmandu) that had high sex ratios for the population below 1 year of age in the 2001 census. In addition, the study examined the situation in three border routes connecting Nepal with major towns in India. Analysis indicates that the practice of pre-natal sex determination and sex-selective abortion is low in the study population. Only 3 per cent (74 women) of the ever-pregnant women had sought pre-natal sex-determination tests. The study also found that more than half of the married women in the survey (54 per cent) had no preference for any sex during the first pregnancy, though son preference in the first pregnancy was found to be higher among women in the Tarai than in the hill districts.