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ARMENIA TO FACE "DEFICIT" OF WOMEN
EurasiaNet.org
Dec 20 2011
NY
In a less than promising finding for a country with longtime population
woes, Armenia is running short on females, and the rampant practice
of selective abortions is to blame, the United Nations Population
Fund has announced.
Selective birth control, a practice sometimes termed gendricide, is
widespread in the South Caucasus for a mix of economic and cultural
reasons. Armenia is believed to have the region's highest rate of
female foeticide. The gender ratio at birth is as high as 120 boys to
110 girls, 20 percent above the accepted norm, according to UNFPA's
Armenia office. The ratio is lower, but also skewed in neighboring
Azerbaijan and Georgia.
"Every year, Armenia is losing about 1,400 potential mothers [because
of prenatal sex selection]," said the country's gynecologist-in-chief
Razmik Abramian. "In 10 to 20 years from now, we will face a deficit
of women," UNFPA Armenia official Gagik Hairapetian told a Yerevan
press-conference, AFP reported.
The Global Gender Gap report put Armenia in second place after China
in terms of the most distorted gender ratios. Azerbaijan and Georgia
came only three countries away from Armenia on that list.
From: Baghdasarian
EurasiaNet.org
Dec 20 2011
NY
In a less than promising finding for a country with longtime population
woes, Armenia is running short on females, and the rampant practice
of selective abortions is to blame, the United Nations Population
Fund has announced.
Selective birth control, a practice sometimes termed gendricide, is
widespread in the South Caucasus for a mix of economic and cultural
reasons. Armenia is believed to have the region's highest rate of
female foeticide. The gender ratio at birth is as high as 120 boys to
110 girls, 20 percent above the accepted norm, according to UNFPA's
Armenia office. The ratio is lower, but also skewed in neighboring
Azerbaijan and Georgia.
"Every year, Armenia is losing about 1,400 potential mothers [because
of prenatal sex selection]," said the country's gynecologist-in-chief
Razmik Abramian. "In 10 to 20 years from now, we will face a deficit
of women," UNFPA Armenia official Gagik Hairapetian told a Yerevan
press-conference, AFP reported.
The Global Gender Gap report put Armenia in second place after China
in terms of the most distorted gender ratios. Azerbaijan and Georgia
came only three countries away from Armenia on that list.
From: Baghdasarian