South Korea: 115.7 boys were born per 100 girls in 1990 — now almost the natural ratio
In 2023, 105.8. Without intervention about 105 boys are born per 100 girls; the skew appears when the sex of a child is chosen before birth.
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The sex ratio at birth: boys born per 100 girls. Naturally slightly more boys are born, about 105. Far more appear when parents learn the sex in advance and end pregnancies with girls.
The line is boys per 100 girls; the dashed line, the natural level of 105; the dot, the peak of the skew.
- Sex ratio at birth boys per 100 girls
115.7 (1990) → 105.8 (2023)
UN estimates (World Population Prospects 2024). Selection: countries of at least 8 million where the ratio reached 110 boys per 100 girls or more since 1970.
National statistics may differ slightly: where birth registration is incomplete, girls are sometimes registered less often than boys.
A question for this picture
What changed parents’ choices most: laws, incomes or pensions?