(MENAFN) Globally, more than 140 million girls are considered “missing” due to prenatal gender selection, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The majority of these—roughly 100 million—are in Asia, a phenomenon first highlighted in 1990 by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen.

The UNFPA defines the sex ratio at birth as the number of boys born per 100 girls, which normally ranges from 104 to 106. However, in several Asian countries, this balance has shifted dramatically. In Vietnam, for instance, the sex ratio at birth rose from 109.8 boys per 100 girls in 2006 to 112 in 2023. Authorities warn that without strong interventions, the country could face a surplus of 1.5 million men aged 15 to 49 by 2039, growing to 2.5 million by 2059.

To address this, Hanoi has proposed stricter financial penalties for individuals or institutions that reveal or assist in determining a fetus’s sex. Yet experts caution that fines alone are unlikely to solve the problem. Alaka Basu, professor of development sociology at Cornell University, emphasizes that “parents will find other routes to satisfy their desire for more sons than daughters”, calling for a combination of social, economic, and legal reforms to tackle underlying causes.

While prenatal gender selection remains prevalent in parts of Asia, some countries have made notable progress since the early 2000s. According to UNFPA, improvements in China, South Korea, and India are the result of policy interventions, public awareness campaigns, and changing social norms. In China, the sex ratio at birth narrowed from 121.2 in 2010 to 111.3 in 2020, through a multi-pronged strategy combining legal enforcement, education, targeted welfare programs, and broader economic development.

The issue of “missing girls” continues to have profound demographic, social, and economic consequences across the region, highlighting the need for sustained and comprehensive efforts to achieve gender balance at birth.

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