An alarming rise in the ratio of boys among newborns in China suggests that increasing numbers of female foetuses are being aborted by parents intent on having a male child. More than 116 male births were recorded for every 100 female births, according to national census results just released.
Beijing officials fear the imbalance will ”damage social and economic stability” in the future and encourage the trade in kidnapped women.
The data has been revealed in an unusually frank report of the problem issued by the China news service in Beijing. It says that officials are concerned by a ”continued upward trend” in the newborn sex ratio.
The natural ratio should be 105 to 107 males to 100 females. The Chinese figure was only slightly above this norm 20 years ago. The current high point of 116,9 males to 100 females is more than five percentage points higher than the figure of 111,3 males in the last full census in 1990.
Traditional prejudice among rural Chinese in favour of male offspring has been reinforced by economic reforms that mean sons can earn more than daughters in the new labour market. The official one-child policy increases the perceived value of male births, although a second child is allowed in many rural areas.
Many rural women are using ultrasound scans to determine the sex of their foetus and ensure the birth of a boy, according to research published by the United States-based Population and Development Review. More than 300 of 820 women surveyed in a central Chinese village had abortions and more than a third admitted they were trying to select their child’s sex.
The male to female ratio for live births reported in the 2000 census shows wide variations between China?s provinces. Five provinces show more than 125 male births for every 100 females, with the percentage reaching 130 in Guangdong and as high as 135 in Hainan. Some Chinese experts claim that there are already as many as 70-million more males than females in the country.