Chandigarh, Jan. 4 -- Haryana recorded its lowest sex ratio at birth in eight years in 2024 and registered a six-point drop from figures a year ago, data showed on Friday - a troubling statistic that highlighted dogged social biases may be hurting the government's mission to stop female foeticide.

Data from the Civil Registration System (CRS) up to December 2024 showed that the sex ratio at birth, a critical indicator of gender equality, had dipped to 910 female births per 1,000 male births in 2024, a six-points drop from 916 in 2023 and the lowest after 2016, when it stood at 900.

According to a Union government reply in Parliament, India's average sex ratio at birth was 933 in 2022-23. According to the 2011 census, the figure at birth...