The child sex ratio in India in 2011 stood at 918, lower than the national average of 927 recorded in 2001, according to data from the latest census, released on Wednesday. This is the poorest sex ratio on record since 1961, The Times of India reported. Child sex ratio is the number of girls aged 0-6 years for every 1,000 boys in the same age group.

The ratio among Hindus, who make up nearly 80% of the country’s population, dipped from 925 in 2001 to 913 in the latest census data. This is the largest drop among all religious communities, in a country where the number of women declined to extraordinarily low levels in the past several decades. However, Sikhs and Jains have shown considerable improvement from 786 and 870 in 2001 to 828 and 889 in 2011, respectively.

The data also showed that Muslims have the lowest literacy rate among all religious communities, at 69%. Despite improving from 59% in 2001, it still falls short of the national average of 73%. Countrywide female literacy rose from 54% to 65% and male literacy from 75% to 81%.