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This was so predictable. China implemented a one-child per couple policy in 1973. Given the economic advantage of and social/cultural preference for male children—effected through sex-selection abortions—it was widely foreseen that China would have a severe shortage of young women. In 2005 and 2006, far more men than women reached marriageable age. Chinese demographers fear social instability and conflict may increase as a result.
China will have 30 million more men of marriageable age than women by 2020, making it difficult for them to find wives, according to a national report.
The gender imbalance could lead to social instability, the report by the State Population and Family Planning Commission warned.
It found that around 118 boys were born to every 100 girls in 2005.
A traditional preference for boys, in a country with a one-child policy, is the root of the problem, the report says.
The report tries to look on the bright side, but it doesn’t really work.
The silver lining is that "for a long time to come, China will not be short of manpower", it [the report] said. There were 860 million Chinese of working age between 15 and 64 in 2000, and the number will reach 1.01 billion in 2016, which is "more than the total number of working age people in all the developed countries".
Hoorah for China. But you can bet that China will also have more elderly people than the total number of elderly “in all the developed countries”. The thing is: Workers in all the developed countries won’t be supporting Chinese old folks; it’ll be Chinese workers.
Previous related posts:
- Blowback from China’s one-child policy
- Global war against baby girls
- Low-income countries are aging, too
UPDATE (18 Jan.): Wang Guangzhou left a comment saying the newspaper did not report his comments correctly. I have removed the quotation from the post.
I don’t think there’s all that much to worry about as far as women; the Phillippines are brimming with potential mail order brides, as are several other third-world countries.
So, China can just export its shortage of young women?
Due to widespread sex-selection abortion, many of China’s neighbours are also in the same boat. See Global war against baby girls
I suggested to reduce the situation for Chinese family wanted boys badly. I think here has some misunderstanding. The paper have not take the all what we discussed. They only give some. when they ask me about the questions on the phone. I just try to explain what they are not clear on the report which finished by other experts and I told them I should confirm what I said but they do not.
China: No Woman, No Cry…
Much has been written lately regarding China’s gender gap and how by 2020, there will be 30 million more men than women in China. Many are predicting this lack of gender balance will lead to all sorts of social problems, including increased crime and …
[...] I read that some said China’s Internet players would definitely poised for growth in term of subscribers’ base, and financing from venture capitalists is not a major problem for them, but other than the top players such as Baidu, Tencent, all having the problems in monetize their unique business models. However, the growth outlook for the online dating industry was very good, particularly I came across a statistics that entitled, “30 million Chinese men will not find a bride,” talked about the shortage of men that partly due to the China’s One Child Policy. But the paramount reason for the gender gap would not be further discussed here just because this blog is not a sociology or political blog, and I also not born and grew up in China. [...]
[...] 30 million Chinese men will not find a bride [...]