5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE BOY PREFERENCE

1 LOPSIDED FIGURES

A new study says men could outnumber women in a third of the world by 2100. The lopsided figures are a result of unwanted girls being deliberately aborted or killed because of their gender, and because of girls dying from inadequate health care and nutrition.

2 ‘MISSING WOMEN’ TO RISE SHARPLY

The study was published Monday in the journal BMJ Global Health, from researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. It estimates that the number of “missing women” will likely rise by a further 4.7 million by 2030, with 50 and 43 per cent of these in China and India, respectively.

3 FURTHER RISK OF SEX IMBALANCE

A further 17 countries, pre-dominantly in sub-saharan Africa, are also at risk of developing a sex imbalance. The result would be that men would outnumber women in countries accounting for a third of the world’s population in 80 years, researchers found.

4 PREFERENCE HAS SKEWED RATIO

The preference for male babies has led to a skewed newborn ratio in 12 countries, and only three — South Korea, Georgia and Hong Kong — have been able to correct it. A seminal essay published in 1990 by Amartya Sen, an economist from India, revealed there were about 100 million “missing women” worldwide as a result of decades of infanticide.

5 ‘MARRIAGE SQUEEZE’ ANTICIPATED

The gender imbalance will likely lead to a “marriage squeeze” due to a dearth of women, scientists say, and trigger “elevated levels of anti-social behaviour and violence.”