An unintended consequence of the adoption of low-cost diagnostic ultrasound in China in the 1980s was the technology’s role in allowing families to selectively terminate pregnancies if fetuses were female, according to an analysis led by Yuyu Chen of Peking University. Roughly 40pc to 50pc of the increase in sex imbalance at birth during the 1980s can be explained by the local access to ultrasound, the researchers say. The pattern apparently continues: In 2010 the sex ratio at birth in China was 118 males to 100 females.

(Source: Journal of Human Resources)

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, February 23rd, 2015

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