One in twenty Indian men will not find a mate

The 2011 census brought to light the growing imbalance in the sex ratio, wherein there are more males than females in India, especially amongst the population below the age of fifty. In the census there were 13.9 million more Indian men than women in the age range of 15 to 39. This is the age range where men look to become sexually active, marry and reproduce. Looking at the next generation, the imbalance gets worse. In the age range of zero to 14 years there were 16.2 million more males. It has been four years since the census, so many younger males have already aged into the 15-39 range.

As a practical matter, it means that one out of twenty men in that age group will not have a mate available. What effect does that have on their social and mental well-being? A small portion of men may not be affected adversely by lack of female companions because they have naturally-occurring low sex drive, homosexuality or the availability of other sexual outlets such as prostitutes and masturbation. However, if society or government becomes more conservative, as it seems wont to do in India, even these outlets become closed off.

There is also a geographic component to the issue. While people can move about freely within the country, the data shows that sex ratios vary from state to state.

The chart below presents the proportion of the total population of the state that that is composed of males and females in each 5-year age range from birth to 80. Those persons above 80 have been grouped into a single range. Blue bars represent males, pink bars represent females.