Rising Gender Ratio and Excess Female Mortality

Rising Gender Ratio and Excess Female Mortality, China

It shows the excess "Female Infant Mortality" rate (FIM) before and after the "One Child Policy." By 1995 the excess FIM rate has risen to 60%.

Today, the population continues to grow. There is also a serious gender imbalance. Census data obtained in 2000 revealed that 119 boys were born for every 100 girls, and among China's "floating population" the ratio was as high as 128:100. These situations led the government in July 2004 to ban selective abortions of female fetuses. Primarily for economic reasons, rural birth rates tended to decline less than urban rates. The right to grow and sell agricultural products for personal profit and the lack of an old-age Welfare system were incentives for rural people to produce many children, especially sons, for help in the fields and for support in old age.

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