On ne naît plus femme ou homme par hasard [A newborn’s sex no longer a matter of chance]

As a rule, a few more boys are born than girls: 105 boys for 100 girls on average. This ratio has varied little over either time or space throughout the human species. However, in the 1980s the proportion of males among newborns began to rise in several East Asian countries, notably China and South Korea. These countries have a marked, long-standing preference for boys, but why didn’t this cause a rise in the proportion of male births earlier? The new imbalance is related to the selective aborting of female fetuses, a practice that has now spread to other Asian countries (India, Vietnam) and other continents. It has recently been observed in Europe— in the Balkans. Will selective abortion continue to spread?