The Effects of Sex-Selective Abortion on Fertility Level in Korea

Abstract

The relationships between fertility level and sex ratio was analysed with the estimation of the number of sex-selective abortions and the number of births controlled by abortion. The number of live births which experienced sex screening was estimated as 71,949. Among the 71,949 boys who experienced the sex screening , the normal live births found as male fetuses at the tests of the sex screening are estimated as 37,022. The rest (34,927) are the boys who were born after repeated induced abortion when the fetus was known to be a girl at the first sex screening . The proportion of the boys experienced sex screening to the total male births was 6.8%.The total number of births controlled by sex selective induced abortions for male births is estimated as 43,550 births, which reduced the total number of births by 2.15%. The contribution rates of fertility reduction resulted by sex selective induced abortions among the births of mothers aged 35 years and over or among the third or later births are significantly high: 7.21% and 14.97% each.