More and more eligible men will find it difficult to get a bride given the pace at which ratio of girls against the boys is falling in India, a United Nations study has warned.

The Indian society will confront a situation what UN calls "the marriage squeeze" which will hit the poorest among the men the hardest.

"The poorest men will be affected at disproportionate rates by the marriage squeeze, and that many among them may end up remaining single for lack of resources to marry, as already observed in some Indian regions," the study Characteristics Sex-Ratio Imbalance in India and Future Scenario has said.

These individuals are likely to become the main losers in the new marriage system and may lead to class-based tensions, it said. The study was commissioned by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to researchers to probe in falling female births in India, Nepal, China and Vietnam.

The long-term impact of falling ratio will affect Indian society most which is hypergamic, that is, where a woman tends to marry a man little higher in status. At the greatest risk are elite women and destitute men, study points out.