Data from the 2001 Census reveal that the sex ratio at birth may have increased by 6 percentage points in India since 1985, and in some parts by 20 percentage points. Data from the National Family Health Survey of 1998-99 show that while the use of prenatal diagnostic techniques has become fairly common only a minority misuses them for aborting female foetuses. The effect of PNDT use on the sex ratio at birth is found to be contingent on whether women are in the male-selection situation (i e, with at least one previous birth but have had no sons) or not. While income and education are found to increase the use of PNDT, their misuse is governed more by cultural factors and the sex composition of children already born.