Source: news.theage.com.au
CHINA, January 22, 2010: [HPI note: The trend of sex-specific abortions affects India, too, and could bring similar results to India’s population.] More than 24 million Chinese men of marrying age could find themselves without spouses in 2020 due to gender selection abortions by the previous generations.
A study done by the government-backed Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, named the gender imbalance among newborns as the most serious demographic problem for the country’s population of 1.3 billion. “Sex-specific abortions remained extremely commonplace, especially in rural areas,” where the cultural preference for boys over girls is strongest, the study said while noting the reasons for the gender imbalance were “complex”. Researcher Wang Guangzhou said the skewed birth ratio could lead to difficulties for men with lower incomes in finding spouses, as well as a widening age gap between partners.