Some Asian-American parents may be using sex-selection techniques to have boys instead of girls, suggest analyses of U.S. Census data, The New York Times reported. The sex-selection techniques include in vitro fertilization, sperm sorting and abortion.
Researchers found that among Americans of Chinese, Indian and Korean descent, if the first child was a girl, it was more likely the second child would be a boy. If the first two children were girls, it was even more likely that the third child would be a boy, the newspaper reported.
"That this is going on in the United States, people were blown away by this," Prof. Lena Edlund, of Columbia University, told the Times. She and a colleague analyzed year 2000 Census data and published their findings last year.
In the United States, the ratio of male to female births is 1.05 to 1. However, among American families of Chinese, Indian and Korean descent, the probability of having a boy increased to 1.17 to 1 if the first child was a girl, the Columbia researchers found. If the first two children were girls, it was 50 percent more likely the third child would be a boy (1.51 to 1).