Vietnam Still Plagued by Sex-Selective Abortions
By Thao Vi - An Dien,
Thanh Nien News
| 09. 23. 2014
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“We are startled by the sex ratios at birth in some communes in the Red River Delta, which were up to 150 boys per 100 girls, during a recent visit,” Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Viet Tien said at a press briefing in Hanoi on Tuesday.
The country’s ratio fell lower -- 113.8 boys per 100 girls than last year. Still, the figure represents a sharp increase from 106.2 boys per 100 girls in 2000 and enough to cause policymakers headaches.
According to an official projection, between 2.3 and 4.3 million men won't be able to find wives by 2050.
Worse still, a scarcity of women would increase pressure for them to marry at a younger age and perhaps drop out of school to do so, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said in a statement released on Tuesday.
In addition, there may be a rising demand for sex work; and trafficking networks may also expand in response to the imbalance, UNFPA warned.
Nguyen Van Tan, director of the General Office for Population and Family Planning, said that one...
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