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Boys Outnumber Girls in China by 32M

Sex ratio poses looming security concerns

By Ambreen Ali, Newser User

Posted Apr 11, 2009 2:19 PM CDT

(Newser) – China's one-child policy has left the nation with 32 million more boys than girls under the age of 20, a new study says. The greatest imbalance is among kids ages 1 to 4, which likely means bigger problems down the road, the New York Times reports. Researchers said China could curb the trend by banning sex-selective abortions, but "nothing can be done now to prevent" the current disparity.

The trend escalated after 1986, when Chinese couples gained access to ultrasounds and abortions. By 2005, boy births were outnumbering girls' by 1.1 million, a rate of 120 boys for every 100 girls. The rate rose as high as 143 boys per 100 girls in rural provinces where some couples were allowed to have a second child. “Sex-selective abortion accounts for almost all the excess males,” the study said.

[Images (6)]

[Quotes (1)]

A boy looks out of a window of a cabin at the Chengdu North Railway Station on January 19, 2009 in Chengdu of Sichuan Province, China. (Getty Images)

Deng Weijun, father of quadruplets holds two of his babies before a CT scan at Tongji Hospital July 9, 2007 in Wuhan of Hubei Province, China. (Getty Images)

Chinese boys enjoy blow up toys during a fair held in Beijing. There are 32 million more boys than girls under 20 in China, a new study reveals. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A boy has his face painted to celebrate the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games near the National Stadium on August 11, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Getty Images)

A boy eats instant noodles as he waits to board a train at the Wuchang Railway Station on January 24, 2009 in Wuhan of Hubei Province, China. (Getty Images)

China faces a large and growing gender imbalance because parents facing strict birth limits have aborted female fetuses in order to get a son. (AP Photo/Greg Baker, File)

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Some imaginative and extreme solutions have
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Boys Outnumber Girls in China by 32M