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.
Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.
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