WUNRN
Vietnam
- Birth Trend May Fuel Sex Work, Trafficking - UN
09
Sep 2009
HANOI,
Sept 9 (Reuters) - The ratio of boys born in Vietnam compared with girls has
grown at an unusually rapid pace in recent years and could lead to a rise in
sex work and trafficking, the United Nations said.
The
sex ratio at birth was 112.1 male births per 100 female births in 2008, up from
an estimated 106.2 in 2000, the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) said in a report.
With
growth since 2006 of one percentage point per year, the ratio might cross the
115 mark within three years, it said.
By
2035, the surplus of adult men would be 10 percent or more of the female
population if the sex ratio did not return to 105 male births per 100 females,
it said.
"Scarcity
of women would increase pressure for them to marry at a younger age, there may
be a rising demand for sex work and the trafficking networks may also expand in
response to this imbalance," UNFPA said.
"Examples
of gender-based violence and human trafficking have already been observed in
Vietnam and point to some of the risks faced by vulnerable girls and
women."
A
key factor behind the rise in the number of male births to female births is
increasing access to sex-determination and sex-selection technology,
"which has allowed couples to pursue their desire for one or more sons",
the UNFPA said.
Vietnam,
which has had an agriculture-based economy for centuries, has a population of
nearly 86 million with a strong preference for sons.
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