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The Re-emergence of “Missing Women” in China
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 June 2021
Abstract
Empirical evidence suggests that close to 100 million women are “missing” worldwide. We revisit the empirical evidence for China, the country with the most missing women. Nearly ten million girls born in the 1980s and 1990s who were “missing” according to earlier census data can be found again in the 2010 population census. We discuss two possible explanations for the re-emergence of these formerly missing girls: the delayed registration of girls owing to economic reasons, and the response to amendments to the Chinese Statistics Law in 2009 and policy changes in the 2010 population census. Using the most recent statistics, we document patterns of the underreporting of women over time and across regions as well as explore the basic determinants of underreporting of women. Important policy challenges remain. For the unregistered children, the lack of access to public services will increase their vulnerability and adversely affect their quality of life.
摘要
“消失的”女性这一问题，因其严重的社会经济影响而广受关注。而这一问题在中国尤为严重。但利用第六次全国人口普查（2010）数据我们发现 1980 和 1990 年代出生的人口，性别比失衡状况并没有此前估计的严重；而在此前普查中被认为“消失的”女性人口中，有八百多万重新出现在第六次人口普查数据中。造成这一现象的关键是 2009 年中华人民共和国统计法的修订以及在普查操作层面相应的政策调整。该修订对数据保密的严格要求，导致大量在此前普查中“被瞒报”的女性重新出现。而利用 2010 年普查数据，我们整理了“被瞒报”女性随时间和地域变化的基本模式，并初步考察了计划生育政策执行力度与“被瞒报”女性规模的内在联系。而尽管“被瞒报”女性并未“消失”，但由于长期缺乏“合法身份”，无法获得充分的公共资源，她们的生活处境仍然堪忧。
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- Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London
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