China Gender Ratio Population Problem - Page 2

"The gender ratio of 118.06 was still beyond the normal range. We must pay great attention to this problem and take more effective measures to promote sex equality in terms of employment and salaries," he said. China's first national population census took place in 1953. Results of that census showed that males made up 51.82 percent of the population on the mainland at that time, while females accounted for 48.18 percent.

The hint of "serious" problems ahead can be seen in the increasing cases of human trafficking as bachelors try to "purchase" their wives. China's police have freed more than 42,000 kidnapped women and children from 2001 to 2003. According to their analysis, low-status young adult men with little chance of forming families of their own are "much more prone to attempt to improve their situation through violent and criminal behavior in a strategy of coalitional aggression." The growing crime rate in China which is being linked to China's massive "floating" or transient population, some 80 million of which are low-status males, seems to add weight to their observation.