Overcrowded Beach, China

The decreasing reliability of PRC population statistics since family planning began in the late 1970s has made evaluating the effectiveness of the policy difficult. Estimates by Chinese demographers of the average number of children for a Chinese woman vary from 1.5 to 2.0. The government is particularly concerned with the large imbalance in the sex ratio at birth, apparently the result of a combination of traditional preference for boys and family planning pressure, which led to the ban of using ultrasound devices for the purpose of preventing sex-selective abortion.
Another factor is the under-reporting of female children to circumvent the law. On the basis of a 2005 report by China's National Population and Family Planning Commission, there were 118.6 boys born for every 100 girls, and in some rural areas the boy/girl ratio could be as high as 130/100. As this trend of gender imbalance is on the increase, experts warn of increased social instability should this trend continue.