China's Other Major Demographic Problem

China's Other Major Demographic Problem:

China's one-child policy has created two major demographic risks for the country. The one that gets more attention is its aging population, which is causing the workforce to shrink. Moreover, China's rapidly aging population is putting pressure on the country's health and pension systems.

But China also has a heavily skewed sex ratio.

A new report from Nomura finds that Chinese women are bearing only 0.71 girls over their lifetime. In 2010, there were 51 million more men than women in the country. From Nomura:

"At this rate, there will not be enough brides for as many as one-fifth of today's baby boys when they get to marrying+age, heightening the risk of social tensions."

The sex ratio among newborns was 120 boys for every 100 girls or a sex ratio of 1.2. In China, as in many Asian countries, couples favor boys over girls, especially in rural towns. While India doesn't have an aging population, its sex ratio is also highly skewed towards males.

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