Vietnam’s Missing Female Births: Insights from Geographical Differences, Trends, and Cultural Preferences

Abstract

The sex ratio at birth (SRB) imbalance, primarily resulting from sex-selective abortion, is considered one of the most pressing demographic issues in Vietnam, as denoted by persistent high SRB for more than two decades. The government’s efforts are challenged by cultural, demographic, and socioeconomic diversity across geographical locations and sub-groups inside the country. For example, son preference is biased towards Northern Vietnam. This study seeks to better understand this diversity by estimating missing female births (MiFB) in count and percentage in all geographical locations from 2009 to 2019 in Vietnam and to further analyze the annual MiFB trend and integrate it with the lunar years of birth. The number of MiFB is the difference between the estimated female births and the expected female births that would have been born if prenatal sex selection practices were absent in Vietnam. We found that MiFB was prevalent and universal in Vietnam in the observed period, with no signal of downturn in the national percentage of MiFB. The negative impacts of MiFB in the past decades are expected to emerge soon in Vietnam’s society, like other earlier affected Asian countries. Thus, urgent actions are needed.