ISSUES
The sex ratio at birth (SRB) reflects the number of male birth to 100 female births. Normally, this ratio falls between 103 to 107 male births to 100 female births.
Viet Nam has experienced an unusually rapid rise of the SRB over the last three years. While in 2000 the SRB was at normal levels and was estimated to be 106.2 male births per female births, it increased to 112.1 in 2008 (GSO, 2009). If this trend continues its rapid pace and does not return to its normal level of around 105 male births per 100 female births, it may significantly affect the population’s demographic and sex structure in the next two decades.
Further increase of the SRB after 2010 will have a great impact on men who are born after 2005 and would be entering their marriageable age from 2030 onwards, because they would find themselves in much higher numbers than women their age. By 2035, the number of adult men would exceed by 10 per cent or more of the female population of corresponding age.
