The story appears on

Page A7

February 26, 2010

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Nation

Sex imbalance has social risks

FOR every 100 girls born to Chinese families last year, there were about 119 boys, a disparity in the gender ratio, the national statistics authority reported yesterday.

The natural rate is about 107 boys for every 100 girls, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

The percentage of young unmarried people is increasing, with more males than females staying single. An important reason is the serious gender imbalance.

Statistics from the Information Office of the State Council show the gender ratio is more alarming in provinces such as Jiangxi, Guangdong, Anhui and Henan, standing as high as 130 in some areas.

Experts said it will become more difficult for low-income males to find suitable spouses as they get older.

A persistent large number of unmarried males will cause social problems, the experts said.

When sex-starved male adults' basic biological needs are not satisfied, they will become more violent, which will threaten the safety of women, they said.

The birth rate last year was 12.13 per 1,000 and the country had 16.15 million newborns. At the same time, 9.43 million people died, making the natural growth rate 5.05 per 1,000.

By the end of last year, China's population had reached about 1.33 billion, a rise of 6.72 million over a year ago.




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend