NewSecurityBeat

China Pledges to Address Gender Imbalance

January 22, 2007 By Wilson Center Staff

Over the next decade China expects to have 30 million more men of marriageable age than women, said a report released last week by China’s State Population and Family Planning Commission. In esponse, Chinese authorities have made new commitments to slow the imbalance by curtailing fetus gender testing and sex-selective abortions. Efforts to promote equality between men and women are also being scaled up in hopes of staving off potential problems noted in the initial report:
The increasing difficulties men face finding wives may lead to social instability.
The government is also concerned with overall population growth. Public financing of family planning and population programs is being increased as a way to keep the mainland population under 1.45 billion by 2020, said an official statement:
Maintaining a low birth rate is the priority of family planning during the next phase.China’s current population is 1.3 billion.

Topics: family planning, population