NEW DELHI, Dec 12: India is losing almost 7,000 girls daily because of the traditional preference for sons which cause many people to abort female foetuses, the UNICEF said on Tuesday.

“India is one of the few countries worldwide with an adverse child sex ratio in favour of boys,” the United Nations children's agency said in its annual “State of the World's Children 2007” report.

“Nationwide, 7,000 fewer girls than expected are born each day, largely due to sex determination,” the report said.

A study by British medical journal “The Lancet” said this year that India may have lost 10 million unborn girls in the past 20 years, but Indian experts say the figure is not more than five million.

Under Indian law, tests to find out the gender of an unborn baby are illegal if not done for medical reasons, but the practice continues in what activists say is a flourishing multi-million-dollar business.

Northern Punjab state has one of the worst sex ratios in the country, with 798 girls for every 1,000 boys under the age of six.

The national average is 927 -- still well below the worldwide average of 1,050 female babies.

UNICEF said there were fewer than 800 girls per 1000 boys in 14 districts of Punjab and neighbouring Haryana, both of which are prosperous state.

Girls in India are often considered a liability, as parents have to put away large sums of money for dowries at the time of their marriage. Many grooms demand dowry well beyond the means of the families of their spouse.—AFP