A preference for sons or for more sons than daughters has been documented in several countries in the world.
Highlighted by sensational titles such as "The endangered sex" (Miller, 1981) or "More than 100 million women are missing" (Sen, 1992), studies have long drawn attention to the unfavourable life chances of females versus males in various parts of East and South Asia.
The paper uses the National Family Health Survey (NFHS, 1992-93) data to examine the extent to which sex preferences have constrained the success of the family planning programme and inhibited the acceptance of contraception in the different states of the country.
Numerous studies have found that most Indian couples have a strong preference for sons over daughters. In an effort to have sons, many couples continue to have children after achieving their desired family size. This practice may have retarded India's fertility decline.
The preference of couples worldwide for a male or female child is an age-old phenomenon. In many developing countries, including India, the preference for sons is strong and has influenced fertility to a large extent.