Published 9 April 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b483
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b483

Editorials

Ratio of males to females in China

Is still high, but only partly because of the one child policy

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

China’s one child policy is one of the most controversial social policies ever implemented. The policy reduced the fertility rate and has helped raise living standards for most people in China, but it has been heavily criticised for violating human rights and having many negative social consequences, one of which is an excess number of male births.¹

In the linked study (doi:10.1136/bmj.b1211), Zhu and colleagues assess trends and geographical patterns in the sex ratio at birth and in people under 20 years of age in China, in addition to the influence of sex selective abortion and the one child policy.² They find that in 2005 China had more than 32 million excess males under the age of 20, and over 1.1 million excess male births. The authors present a discouraging picture of very high and worsening male to female ratios in the reproductive age group in China for . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ The Second Teaching Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun 130041, PR China

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

China’s excess males, sex selective abortion, and one child policy: analysis of data from 2005 national intercensus survey

Wei Xing Zhu, Li Lu, and Therese Hesketh
BMJ 2009 338: b1211. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Family size, fertility preferences, and sex ratio in China in the era of the one child family policy: results from national family planning and reproductive health survey

Qu Jian Ding and Therese Hesketh
BMJ 2006 333: 371-373. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Health in China: The one child family policy: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Therese Hesketh and Wei Xing Zhu
BMJ 1997 314: 1685. [Abstract] [Full Text]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Don't mention the 'A' word

Robert P. Balfour
bmj.com, 19 Apr 2009 [Full text]

Are we sure China's lopsided sex ratio is a problem?

Wayne E Thogmartin
bmj.com, 24 Apr 2009 [Full text]

Online poll

Find out more >>