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| Deficit of Female Births in China, Europe, USA and India: 1950-2049 (in 1000) | |||||||
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Source: World Population Prospects, the 2008 Revision. United Nations,
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Population
Division, New York. See:
www.unpopulation.org |
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This chart illustrates the strong "male preference" in India and especially in China. It depicts the deficit of female births as compared to male births (= annual number of female births minus annual number of male births). In the early 2000s China annually had roughly 1.7 million female births less than male births. This deficit is much larger than can be explained by natural factors. It should be noted that the figure above displays the absolute deficit in the number of female births, not the sex ratio at birth. |
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The large excess of male over female birth in China can be explained by two factors: Sex-selective abortion and underreporting of female births. Most demographers believe that sex-selective abortions primarily accounts for the large deficit of female births in China, but under-reporting of female births certainly occurs. If one follows the birth cohorts for a few years, girls suddenly "appear" in the demographic statistics at higher age groups. Among school children, the number of females and males is much more balanced in China than among the newborn. This can only be explained by underreporting of female births. However, it is highly likely that selective abortion plays a major role in the large deficit of female births. With its strict "One-child only" family planning policy parents in China often have used abortion as a family planning measure if the first expected child was a girl - particularly since the early 1980s. This is "dark side" of China's successful family planning policy is often ignored by family planning advocates. |
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The deficit of female births in China will haunt the society in coming decades, when hundred-thousands of young men will have little chance of marriage. China is expecting, and already experiencing, a massive "marriage squeeze", where millions of young men have no chance of finding a bride to start a family. Demographers and social scientists expect that the age difference between brides and grooms will grow. It is also likely that Chinese men will try to find non-Chinese brides in other countries. |
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Literature: |
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Anderson, Barbara A. / Silver, Brian D. (1995): Ethnic differences in fertility and sex ratios at birth in China: Evidence from Xinjiang. In: Population Studies, Vol. 49, No. 2, 211-226 Cai, Yong / Lavely, William (2003): China's missing girls: Numerical estimates and effects on population growth. In: China Review, Vol. 3, No. 2, 13-29 Chu, Junhong (2001): Prenatal sex determination and sex-selective abortion in rural central China. In: Population and Development Review, Vol. 27, No. 2, 259-282 Coale, Ansley J. (1991): Excess female mortality and the balance of the sexes in the population: An estimate of the number of "missing females". In: Population and Development Review, Vol. 17, No. 3, 517-523 Coale, Ansley J. / Banister, Judith (1994): Five decades of missing females in China. In: Demography, Vol. 31, No. 3, 459-486 Das Gupta, Monica (2005): Explaining Asia's "missing women": A new look at the data. In: Population and Development Review, Vol. 31, No. 3, 529-535 Das Gupta, Monica / Lee, Shuzhuo (1997): Gender bias and the "marriage squeeze" in China, South Korea and India, 1920-1990: The effects of war, famine, and fertility decline. Cambridge, MA (Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard University), Working Paper Series, No. 97.05 Eberstadt, Nicholas (2004): Power and population in Asia. In: Policy Review, No. 123, Februray 2004 Festini, F. / Taccetti, G. / Repetto, T. / Cioni, M. L. / de Martino, M. (2003): Sex ratio at birth among Chinese babies born in Italy is lower than in China. In: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Vol. 57, 967-968 Goodkind, Daniel M. (2004): China's missing children: The 2000 census underreporting surprise. In: Population Studies, Vol. 58, No. 3, 281-295 Gu, Baochang / Roy, Krishna (1995): Sex ratio at birth in China, with reference to other areas in East Asia: What we know. In: Asia-Pacific Population Journal, Vol. 10, No. 3, 17-42 Mundigo, Axel I. (1999): Population and abortion policies in China: their impact on minority nationalities. In: Human Evolution, Vol. 14, No. 3, 207-230 Poston, Dudley L. (2002): Son preference and fertility in China. In: Journal of Biosocial Science, Vol. 34, No. 3, 333-347 Ren, Steve (1995): Sex Differences in Infant and Child Mortality in Three Provinces in China. In: Social Sciences and Medicine, Vol. 40, No. 9, 1259-1269 White, Tyrene (2000): Domination, Resistance, and Accommodation in China's One Child Campaign. In: Perry, Elizabeth J. / Selden, Mark (Eds.): Chinese Society: Change, Conflict, and Resistance. New York, NY (Routledge) |
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| This data section was updated on April 11, 2009 | |||||||
