Trends in female-selective abortion among Asian diasporas in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia

  1. Catherine Meh
  2. Prabhat Jha  Is a corresponding author
  1. Centre for Global Health Research, Unity Health Toronto and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Canada
3 figures, 2 tables and 2 additional files

Figures

Conditional sex ratio (CSR) by birth order and country of birth.

Second and third births in China indicate births in provinces or areas where more than one child was allowed. Solid lines represent births in India (green) and China (burgundy). Dash lines represent births among Indian and Chinese diasporas in Australia, Canada, UK, and US. CSRs shown are based on the total number of births (shown on each graph) for each birth order and its corresponding sex composition for all women of the specified background in each country. Deviations from the natural range are indicative of the difference in the observed CSRs from the baseline.

Conditional sex ratio (CSR) of second and third order births by mother’s ethnicity and country of residence.

CSRs shown are based on the total number of births (shown on each graph) for each birth order and its corresponding sex composition for all women of the specified background in each country.

Conditional sex ratio (CSR) of second and third order births in the UK by mother’s country of birth.

CSRs shown are based on the total number of births (shown on each graph) for each birth order and its corresponding sex composition for all women of the specified background in each country.

Tables

Table 1
Number of births by country and birth order.
Country (year)SourceYearFirst bornSecond born, one earlier sonSecond born, one earlier daughterThird born, two earlier sonsThird born, two earlier daughtersThird born, one earlier son and daughterAll births, children 14 and belowTotal Births among Indians diasporaTotal Births among Chinese diaspora
Births in diaspora settings
AustraliaCensus2001530,793176,934168,10032,22328,34247,6511,004,11414,15530,233
AustraliaCensus2006575,914188,474179,02232,21127,89848,0201,071,05019,20237,305
AustraliaCensus2011572,686185,248176,49931,24227,33747,0631,059,14138,64948,175
AustraliaCensus2016617,168200,965191,34931,60927,78847,8531,134,91584,45278,827
 CanadaCensus200187,71827,88226,4044,3454,042NA162,0826,6395,931
CanadaCensus2016958,730295,240279,60538,18535,62560,3451,689,395154,400130,730
 United KingdomCensus20012,926,117918,845866,111138,203118,736203,1885,171,200111,1767,505
United KingdomCensus20113,256,113944,567892,899133,190116,264204,3935,547,426156,83624,200
 United StatesCensus 5%200035,39113,33812,8112,1812,3843,54272,0829,4229,246
United StatesACS200420,3777,8287,3781,2861,2762,04241,3444,1784,120
United StatesACS200966,21725,69624,2354,2604,1066,615135,26316,88714,588
United StatesACS201478,80431,02929,2035,3865,0708,470164,04020,96917,629
United StatesACS201976,15529,87828,5994,9254,7757,761158,06226,43221,213
Total9,802,1833,045,9242,882,215459,246403,643686,94317,410,114663,397429,702
Proportion56%17%17%3%2%4%100%
Births in home country
ChinaCHNS20001,687402468591101052,944
ChinaCHNS20061,3251953011636291,933
ChinaCHNS20111,561206344834222,193
ChinaCHNS20151,364265373748222,093
IndiaNFHS-21998/9944,90720,53019,4157,1417,65714,397161,523
IndiaNFHS-32005/0648,29921,76121,4596,7818,08014,398166,861
IndiaNFHS-42015/16250,233106,712104,69324,00435,11153,058693,227
Total349,376150,071147,05338,01651,07682,0311,030,774
Proportion34%15%14%4%5%8%100%
All study births
Total10,151,5593,195,9953,029,268497,262454,719768,97418,440,888663,397429,702
Proportion55%17%16%3%2%4%100%
Table 2
Conditional sex ratio: second and third order births with one or two earlier daughters among Indian and Chinese women in the diaspora.
Mother’s ethnicity/ancestryIndianChinese
Country (Year)Birth order and sex of previous childMaleFemaleSex RatioMaleFemaleSex Ratio
Mother’s country of birthIndiaChina
Australia
Second born, one earlier daughter1267112989120171889937
2001Third born, two earlier daughters155116748214181846
Second born, one earlier daughter1592139987924282341964
2006Third born, two earlier daughters167127760241212880
Second born, one earlier daughter3061268087629042731940
2011Third born, two earlier daughters261201770282252894
Second born, one earlier daughter7419659088852714664885
2016Third born, two earlier daughters596389653421334793
Mother’s country of birthIndiaChina
Canada
Second born, one earlier daughter6185318594514631027
2001Third born, two earlier daughters137745406256903
Second born, one earlier daughter122751082588283707855938
2016Third born, two earlier daughters20851085520810710877
Mother’s country of birthIndiaChina
UK
Second born, one earlier daughter60495515912465424912
2001Third born, two earlier daughters119210098466047783
Second born, one earlier daughter8378773092313661263925
2011Third born, two earlier daughters1280996778179173966
Mother’s country of birthIndiaChina
US
Second born, one earlier daughter930815876710553779
2000Third born, two earlier daughters18210054910983761
Second born, one earlier daughter398362910292274938
2004Third born, two earlier daughters68426184242
Second born, one earlier daughter1613152194311051094990
2009Third born, two earlier daughters244139570173135780
Second born, one earlier daughter1997194797513741250910
2014Third born, two earlier daughters274163595212156736
Second born, one earlier daughter2650238189816401524929
2019Third born, two earlier daughters210169805238186782
  1. Example of CSR computation for Australia 2001 among Indian mother, parity 2: total births = 2396. Pf = 1129/2396=0.47, CSR = (0.47/(1–0.47)*1000=891). For parity 3: total = 271 pf = 116/271=0.43, CSR = (0.43/(1–0.43)*1000=748). Due to rounding of Pf value, CSR values may differ slightly.

Additional files

Supplementary file 1

Births and conditional sex ratios.

(A) Births and conditional sex ratios (CSRs) from Australia Census 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016. (B) Births and CSRs from Canada Census 2001, 2016. (C) Births and CSRs from UK Census 2001, 2011. (D )Births and CSRs from US Census and American Community Survey (ACS). (E) Births and CSRs for domestic population.

https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/79853/elife-79853-supp1-v1.xlsx
MDAR checklist
https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/79853/elife-79853-mdarchecklist1-v1.docx

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Catherine Meh
  2. Prabhat Jha
(2022)
Trends in female-selective abortion among Asian diasporas in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia
eLife 11:e79853.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.79853