Missing Girls in South Korea: Trends, Levels and Regional Variations

International marriage in East and Southeast Asia: trends and research emphases

“…The figures for Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore have already been presented. In both Taiwan and Korea, the main factor seems to be the difficulty of finding local brides for many men with lower education, income-earning capacity, and rural background (compounded in the South Korean case by the strong excess of males in the age group 24 to 30, due to sex selective abortions in the 1980s: see Kim 2004). In rural regions of South Korea, it is reported that in 2005, 35.9% of men married foreign women (Yasuharu Dando 2006, internet source at http://dandoweb.…”

Maintaining Access to Safe Abortion and Reducing Sex Ratio Imbalances in Asia

“…Imbalances grow as birth order increases. 3,[8][9][10] It is widely agreed that the growing imbalance in the ratios seen in these countries in the 90 *India does not use this international convention; the normal sex ratio of 104-107 would be referred to in Indian literature as 934-961 girls to 1000 boys. last two decades is associated with prenatal sex determination with ultrasound, which becomes possible around 13-14 weeks of pregnancy, followed by an abortion primarily for sex selection during the second trimester.…”

“…Religious traditions (sons perform death rites in Hindu tradition and ancestor worship in the Confucian tradition) also encourage son preference. 3,6,7,9,15 The preference for sons is accentuated as fertility declines and women want to achieve the dual goals of a small family and one or more sons. These pressures become more pronounced when population policies are in place.…”

“…South Korea, with its more controlled health system was also able to regulate sex determination tests more effectively. 9,15 An indication that methods based on fear and control may not have a long-term effect may come from the emerging example of Nawanshahr district in Punjab, India. In response to a particularly imbalanced sex ratio, local authorities launched a vigorous campaign in 2005 to register personal details of all pregnant women in an electronic database.…”

Asian Cross-border Marriage Migration : Demographic Patterns and Social Issues

“…Mainly due to strong government interventions, mass media campaigns and an improved status for women, a downward trend in the sex ratio at birth has been observed since the mid-1990s. The national average of the sex ratio at birth decreased to 108.2 in 2004 (Kim 2004a(Kim , 2004bKNSO 2007). If high sex ratios at birth continue, then every successive group of men entering the marriage market will become larger than the number of women.…”