The preference for sons in traditional Chinese families has led to a vast gender disparity in China: A study has found that there are currently 32 million more boys than girls under the age of 20. While Chinese officials have acknowledged that the country’s “one-child” policy has led to a gender imbalance, the new study offers the first hard data on the extent of the disparity. The study included nearly five million people under the age of 20 and covered every county in China. It found that overall ratios of boys were high everywhere, but were most striking among the younger age group of 1-4 years, and in rural areas, where it peaked at 126 boys for every 100 girls [The Wall Street Journal blog].
With the greatest imbalance occurring with very young children, the researchers say that China will be grappling with the problem for 20 years. The imbalance is expected to steadily worsen among people of childbearing age over the next two decades and could trigger a slew of social problems…. “If you’ve got highly sexed young men, there is a concern that they will all get together and, with high levels of testosterone, there may be a real risk, that they will go out and commit crimes” [AP], says study coauthor Therese Hesketh.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal, attributed the imbalance almost entirely to couples’ decisions to abort female fetuses. The trend toward more male than female children intensified steadily after 1986, they said, as ultrasound tests and abortion became more available. “Sex-selective abortion accounts for almost all the excess males,” the paper said [The New York Times]. Although tests to determine the fetus’s gender for non-medical reasons are officially banned, the rule is largely ignored.
The Chinese government instituted strict birth control policies in the 1970s to prevent runaway population growth, but the one-child policy clashed with Chinese families’ traditional preference for a male heir. In some provinces, a second child is permitted if the first is a girl or if parents are experiencing “hardship” [AFP]. But among those second births the proportion of boys is even higher than average as families desperately pursue their last chance for a son. Among second births, there are 143 males to 100 female births.
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DISCOVER: The Biology of Sex Ratios asks if humans can unconsciously influence the sex of their offspring
Image: iStockphoto
April 13th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Polyandry, homosexuality, chemical or physical castration (e.g., the Forbidden City), conventional land war. 300 millon shared rural dead sum to a marvenous demographic stop-gap for China and India together. The trick is to avoid the merely wounded.
April 13th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Uncle Al, I’ve asked you to stay more on-topic a few times, and I see you’re not doing that. Your comments are far too often offensive and/or disruptive of and irrelevant to conversations on the site. I’m now banning you from commenting on the DISCOVER blogs.
Uncle Al’s previous comments will remain, but subsequent ones will be barred.
April 13th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
i think it should be ok to have a kid and not have the baby adopted or have an abortion. The kid should have a good life like any normal kid they all deserve a life,they should not be KILLED for something the mom did it wasn’t their fault… the mom should be punished but not by KILLING their baby they might just go get pregnent again..
April 13th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
lap cheung party!
April 13th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
My free market inclination has been that gender selection will benefit girls now that they’re more scarce. In ten years we’ll start finding out whether that’s true.
April 13th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Could this type of sex selection lead to a culture that more readily embraces homosexuality as there are simply not enough females to couple with? Besides prevalent violence as the article mentioned, what other consequences could this ban produce? A larger military? Higher suicide rates from loneliness and depression?
I’d like to look towards the positive, and appreciate Brian’s comment that women may gain from this venture, but in terms of the macro society any obtrusive imbalance will enviably hinder instead of help.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
“Jen Hawse Says:
April 13th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Could this type of sex selection lead to a culture that more readily embraces homosexuality as there are simply not enough females to couple with?”
I don’t think so. There will still be the requirement of sexual attraction. Without the chemical disposition, wouldn’t a guy just not be attracted to another guy? (I’m no expert, lots of guys being single and next to no unmarried females just doesn’t seem a likely catalyst to me).
“Higher suicide rates from loneliness and depression?”
I think this will sadly prove to be true.
Perhaps, with the current situation, some government campaigns could help. Ads on TV, in newspaper, etc. with catchy phrases. In New Zealand we’ve had media stuffing things down our collective throats covering safety belts, speeding (on the road), drink driving, dangers of mains electricity, kids playing with matches, smoking, among other stuff. There’s been various levels of success, overall, it’s been a good thing to do. Perhaps there could be media presentations touting the equal value of sons and daughters. A real push by the government to change the collective paradigm.
Maybe there already is something like that going on. I reckon it could possibly help. But then again, there are probably more clever minds, actually involved and in China, than mine working on this issue.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
What do you do with 300 million amped, poor,disenfranchised adolecents in a society defined by governmental control?
I think that Africa could make the Sudetenland look like a hamlet.
April 14th, 2009 at 12:08 am
Just for interest value, this site is available from behind The Firewall. Residents of China can reach this page, according to:
http://www.websitepulse.com/help/testtools.china-test.html
April 14th, 2009 at 10:51 am
I think that abortion based on gender is disgusting.
April 14th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Zeeburg, Uncle Al’s comment dealt with the consequences of China’s population policy. The fact it offends you has nothing to do with its relevance.
April 14th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
The author mentions that an excess of males could lead to higher crimes. I think this could lead to more crimes against females like rape or domestic violence as men who are able to acquire a female will not let the woman have any personal freedom to leave if in an abusive relationship resulting in even more female oppression.
April 15th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
FWIW, I completely agree with Alan Kellogg’c comment. That many people find the truth offensive doesn’t negate it. Uncle Al simply has a flair for annoying the complacent.
April 24th, 2009 at 6:22 am
32 million young males just hanging around in China with no chance of a mate?
Confucius says “He who cannot make love makes war.”
War is coming.
April 24th, 2009 at 6:55 am
To the Discover Web Editor Amos Zeeberg:
This is a science blog. By banning Uncle Al’s logical progression of potential consequences, you are imposing your own PC filter on the discussion. You clearly have no science background.
I am not offended by Uncle Al’s deductive ponderings, but I am tremendously offended that a politically correct traffic cop is empowered to silence non profane contributions.
You must be quite young. The fallout from imposing your thought police methods will shape your future world.
April 25th, 2009 at 9:35 am
“I think that abortion based on gender is disgusting.”
True, of course. But it is the “choice” of parents.
I have a better one
abortion is disgusting
China will become violent with all these boys. They will be shipped off to the military.
April 26th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Tell you what else, there’ll be a lot of Chinese young men touring other countries – especially Asian – seeking wives in the future. This has happened in Japan (especially the rural areas) and has been portended for S. Korea where the same gender imbalance prevails (and for the same reasons).