For the first time, there are more females than males in India
Government data showed that the number of women in India for the first time exceeded the number of men, in addition to a slowdown in the birth rate in the second most populous country in the world.
Indian families traditionally prefer to have male children over females, which are often seen as a financial burden due to dowries.
Although the Indian authorities have banned sex-selective abortion, the practice has not stopped, and national population data consistently records one of the highest male-to-female ratios in the world.
But the latest National Family and Health Survey published by the Indian Ministry of Health on Wednesday after two years of research, recorded a rate of 1,020 women for every 1,000 men.
It is the first time that a government survey of India's population has shown women outnumbering men, and the first national census dates back to 1876.
"The improvement in the overall gender ratio is positive and a step in the right direction, but there is still a lot to be done in order to achieve gender equality," Sanghamitra Singh, a researcher at the Population Foundation of India told AFP.
The difference between the number of males and females is explained by the long life expectancy of Indian women, where the number of males still giving birth to more than 1,000 males compared to 929 females.
"This could indicate a certain degree of male preference," Singh added.
The data also showed that India's fertility rate has fallen to two children per woman, down from 2.2 in the 2015-2016 census.
This figure is below the level needed to maintain population levels, and was described by the Population Foundation of India as a "significant achievement for the country's family planning programme".
India has a population of about 1.3 billion people, and the United Nations expects the country's population to surpass China later this decade.
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