Trend of rising birth gender imbalance slows

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-16 21:10

BEIJING - China said the trend of gender imbalance among newborns has slowed since 2005 but the problem remains "very grave" according to figures released by the National Population and Family Planning Commission Friday.

Results from 28 Chinese provinces found that the imbalance of male infants to female infants declined in 17 of the provinces from 2005 figures, rose slightly in seven provinces and was still a major problem in four, Jiang Fan, deputy minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission said at a conference.

He didn't give the exact figures, but said the ratio was still high above an even ration, which is about 103-107 boys to 100 girls.

An analysis of statistics from population and family planning, education and public security departments showed that between 2006 to 2008, the ratio fell two percentage points from the 119:100 reported in 2005.

China adopted the family planning policy in the late 1970s to curb population explosion. The plan basically limits families to one child and encourages late marriages and childbearing.

The sex imbalance problem can be traced back to the late 1980s when B-ultrasound technologies used for gender identification of fetuses became available, and some Chinese women, out of traditional male favoritism, often chose to abort after learning that they were carrying female fetuses.

Jiang attributed the improvement to local authorities' enhanced efforts in cracking down on illegal fetus gender identification and illegal abortion. He pledged to take further measures to curb the trend.