Researchers have warned that men will dramatically outnumber women in the coming decades due to “cultural preferences” for boys and the prevalence of sex-selective abortion in some countries.
Modeled on global gender ratios, a new study concludes that the imbalance could jeopardize global stability in the long run. He warned that countries with unequal sex ratios at birth could face a “conservative” shortfall of 4.7 million girls by 2030, and possibly “lost” 22 million girls by 2100.
The study, published in the scientific journal BMJ Global Health, found that prenatal sex selection accounted for about half of the disability. This has led to the deviation of sex ratios in many countries across southeastern Europe to southern and eastern Asia since the 1970s.
“A lower-than-expected proportion of females in the population can lead to elevated levels of antisocial behavior and violence, and may ultimately affect long-term stability and sustainable social development,” the authors wrote.
The study’s projections were based on a database of more than three billion birth records from 204 countries between 1970 and 2020. It also looked at the experiences of countries already dealing with skewed sex ratios, including China and India.
In addition, the total number of “missing” births between 1970 and 2017 was estimated at 45 million – 95% of them from China or India, the countries with the largest number of births annually in the world.
The researchers claim that this will create a surplus of young people in more than a third of the world’s population in the long run, and lead to “unknown social and economic impacts on the affected countries”.
One possible consequence of the skewed gender ratio towards men is a “marriage crisis” – where many men cannot marry because there are not enough women. The researchers cautioned that “immediate action” is needed in countries with “continuous shifts in the gender ratio” to address this problem.
In addition, the study indicated that understanding the potential development of sexual dysfunctions at birth was “essential” to anticipate and plan for changes in sexual structures around the world.
According to the study, it is expected that there will be a deviation in sex ratios in many sub-Saharan African countries, Nigeria and Pakistan, in the coming years.
However, the researchers suggested that the sex ratio at birth was likely to stabilize and decline within two decades in countries currently affected by birth defects.
However, the researchers said the case required “broader legal frameworks to ensure gender equality”.
Source: RT