Sex Ratio Among British Indians Worse Than in India
U.K. Study Finds Evidence of Son Preference and Possible Sex Selection
December 18, 2025
A U.K. government-commissioned study has found a skewed male-to-female birth ratio among Indian-origin families that exceeds even India’s national figures. This indicates that migrant Indian communities in Britain have retained, and in some cases reinforced, patriarchal cultural norms favouring sons over daughters.
Between 2017 and 2021, births among Indian-ethnicity mothers who had two or more children showed a male-to-female ratio of 113 to 100, significantly above the biological norm of around 105 and above the statistical cut-off of 107 that suggests active sex-selection, the British newspaper The Telegraph reported on December 9.
The figure is even higher than India’s own national average, where the sex ratio at birth during 2021–23 stood at roughly 109 boys for every 100 girls, according to the Indian government’s Sample Registration System.
The distorted sex ratio points to an ongoing preference for sons among some British Indian families, especially in cases where the mother already has two or more children. This pattern aligns with what demographers call the “stopping rule,” where parents keep having children until they have the number of sons they want. However, researchers found that this rule by itself does not account for the level of imbalance. The data suggests that some families may be using methods like sex-selective abortion or assisted reproduction to ensure a male child, rather than relying on chance through repeated births.
Government estimates point to around 400 sex selective abortions over five years, with the possibility that a larger number of cases involve assisted reproductive methods such as sperm sorting or pre implantation genetic techniques, which allow parents to select male embryos before pregnancy begins.
This brings into focus a concept in sociology known as “selective acculturation.” This refers to how migrant communities adopt certain aspects of the host country’s culture, such as language, education, or employment patterns, while continuing to hold on to core values from their country of origin. While British Indian families may adapt to life in the U.K. in many ways, some apparently continue to maintain or even strengthen older beliefs about the higher value of sons over daughters.
The retention of son preference indicates that migration does not lead to automatic abandonment of patriarchal norms. On the contrary, such norms may be reinforced in diaspora settings through close-knit community networks, cultural pride and transnational family ties.
In some diaspora communities, cultural pride takes the form of clinging to inherited traditions without reflection, even when those traditions reinforce inequality. The distance from the home country can lead to a more rigid version of culture, treated as something to protect rather than question.
The data also indicates a reduction in such practices since their peak between 1990 and 2005, and research shows that sex selection is confined to a small proportion, fewer than five per cent, of Indian-born mothers. This suggests generational shifts and partial value change over time. But the persistence of the practice at all, especially in a context where abortion on the basis of sex is illegal, speaks to the deep-rooted nature of gender bias and the covert mechanisms through which it operates.
The study shows that migration carries entire systems of belief, family roles and social expectations into new settings. These cultural frameworks often remain strong and guide personal choices across generations. In this context, technologies such as IVF or sperm sorting serve as tools that allow families to act on inherited preferences, including the desire for sons. Anthropologists describe this as the medicalisation of cultural practices, where scientific methods are used to give familiar social biases a new and clinical form.
This is also an example of “invisible adaptation,” where biased preferences continue quietly through legal or medical methods. Since there is no obvious pressure or force, these practises often stay hidden, even though they affect birth patterns. The government faces a difficult task, needing to respond to these trends without interfering too deeply in private choices about pregnancy.
Policies that ban sex selection are not enough on their own. They need to be supported by long-term efforts to change attitudes, family expectations and the way girls are valued in society.
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