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Cited by 64Demographic Trends and Gender PreferencesChina's Socioeconomic Reforms and GovernanceFamily Dynamics and Relationships

The very high sex ratio in rural China: impact on the psychosocial wellbeing of unmarried men

Zhou, Xu Dong, Wang, Xiao Lei, Li, Lu, Hesketh, Therese·2011·Social Science & Medicine
DOI 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.07.033
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Abstract

China has the highest male to female sex ratio at birth (SRB) in the world, with levels highest in poor rural areas. Rural-to-urban migration also occurs on a huge scale, but household registration regulations prevent rural-dwellers from settling permanently in cities. However, urban registration can be acquired through marriage and many rural females now acquire urban residence through this route. The purpose of this study was to examine areas where there is a high degree of rural-urban migration and a pronounced imbalance in the sex ratio of the population in the reproductive age groups and to explore the effects of this situation on the psychosocial wellbeing of older unmarried men in rural Guizhou, one of the poorest provinces in China. The study drew on two sources of data: (1) routine demographic data from 36 villages, and (2) in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews with 45 unmarried men aged over 30. Our results show high levels of rural-urban migration leaving inland villages depleted of young people, especially women. There is a strong gradient across the age range in the ratio of unmarried males to females in all the villages from a ratio of 1.9 in the 20-24 age group, to a ratio of 75.0 in the 35-39 age group. Interviews with the unmarried men showed they blamed their failure to marry on poverty and the ease with which local women can marry-up to urbanites. Most felt a profound sense of failure describing themselves variously as: aimless, hopeless, miserable, sad, angry and lonely. While the SRB has recently fallen slightly in China, the problem of the gender imbalance is likely to continue for at least a generation, since the SRB has been very high in parts of rural China for 20 years, and women will continue to migrate away from rural areas in far larger numbers than men.

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  • By 2020, China will have around 30 million excess, unmarriageable men of reproductive age.

    “By 2020, there will be around 30 million excess, and hence unmarriageable, men of reproductive age in a country where getting married and having children is still a strong cultural expectation.20,22”

    From The effects of China’s universal two-child policy (2016) · cites this paper as [22]

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Authors
Zhou, X. D., Wang, X. L., Li, L., & Hesketh, T.
Affiliations
  • Zhejiang University (CN)
  • University College London (GB)
Corresponding author
Hesketh, Therese
ORCID
Venue
Social Science & Medicine
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2011-11
Volume
73
Issue
9
Pages
1422-1427
ISSN
0277-9536 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.07.033
OpenAlex
W2046413963
Cited by
64
References
31
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 8 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 6
FWCI
11.83
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Social Science & Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Funders
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/F034466/1)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
Keywords
sex ratio at birth, gender imbalance, rural-urban migration, unmarried men, psychosocial well-being, rural China, Guizhou, household registration, marital failure, women's migration, rural depopulation, poverty
MeSH terms
Adult, China, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Male, Personal Satisfaction, Rural Population, Sex Ratio, Spouses

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