Sex Ratio Imbalances Among Children At Micro - Level : China And India Compared

Sex ratio imbalances found in Asia are primarily due to the increasing proportions of sons among children in China and India. This gradual demographic masculinization over the last two decades results from the rapid progression in the number of sex-selective abortions aimed at ensuring the birth of male children. While other factors such as female infanticide or excess child mortality have played a sizeable role in the past in distorting sex ratios among the child population, the rise of pre-birth sex selection has entirely changed the situation. Sex selection through abortion –following detection of sex of the foetus– represents a technological breakthrough that has enabled millions of Asian couples to implement a new and more effective strategy of sex planning aimed at getting rid of unwanted female births.