DHAKA: Chinese health authorities on Wednesday described the gender imbalance among newborns as ‘the most serious and prolonged’ in the world, a direct ramification of the country’s strict one-child policy.

The statement will add to growing calls for the government to scrap all family planning restrictions in the world’s most populous nation, which many scholars say faces a demographic crisis.

Like most Asian nations, China has a traditional bias for sons. Many families abort female foetuses and abandon baby girls to ensure their one child is a son, so about 118 boys are born for every 100 girls, against a global average of 103 to 107.

‘Our country has the most serious gender imbalance that is most prolonged and affecting the most number of people,’ the National Health and Family Planning Commission said in a statement on its website, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1747 HRS, JAN 21, 2015