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+--- Thread: 12 countries could 'lose' almost 5 million women in the next decade, warn scientists (/thread-10765.html)
12 countries could 'lose' almost 5 million women in the next decade, warn scientists - C C - Aug 9, 2021
https://www.sciencealert.com/almost-5-million-women-will-go-missing-in-the-next-decade-scientists-warn
INTRO: Since the 1970s, sex-selective abortions in China, India, and ten other nations have caused between 23 and 45 million women to go 'missing'. By 2030, a new study predicts those very same nations will 'lose' another 4.7 million female births, skewing their sex ratios even more.
This study uses a model based on 3.26 billion birth records from 204 countries, and it identifies 12 nations with strong evidence of a skewed sex ratio and 17 nations at risk of heading in that direction. The good news is that the 12 nations today with a skewed sex ratio show signs of recovery, especially China and India, where 95 percent of all current missing births are located.
By 2100, the model predicts these nations will lose 5.7 million women altogether – a fraction of what has been lost since the 1970s, when sex diagnosis became widely available, and a much faster decrease than other studies have predicted. Still, that's a lot of women who will never be born, and it could cause lasting cultural and societal repercussions.
In China and India, where men now outnumber women by some 70 million, a marriage 'squeeze' has already led to a worrying uptick in loneliness, as well as a rise in violence, female trafficking, and prostitution. In recent years, the sex imbalance in both of these nations has begun to slow, as government officials provide incentives for female births and restrictions on sex-selective abortions.
But more work is needed. The team behind the new model says we need to take immediate action if we want to rebalance the sex scales in places like China, India, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Vietnam.
Especially because it could set precedence elsewhere. If other countries with a preference for sons over daughters – like Nigeria, Pakistan, Egypt, Tanzania, and Afghanistan– begin to skew their sex ratios as well, the new model predicts we could lose 22 million more women by 2100... (MORE)