Nepal has been identified as a country with a strong preference for son ever since the World Fertility Surveys first documented the phenomenon in the 1980. The country has been showing signs of skewed or distorted sex ratios at birth in some districts of Terai and hilly regions. Among the children below 10 years of age in the country, male children exceeded female children by 2.2 per cent. In urban Nepal, 5.6 per cent more male than female children were recorded as compared with 1.7 per cent more male than female children in rural Nepal.

This policy brief reviews the prevailing legal issues contributing to the continuation of gender-biased sex selection (GBSS) to identify gaps and recommend ways forward.