UN: 7,000 Armenian women chose sex-selective abortion since 2006

The percentage of male children born in Armenia has risen significantly due to an increase in female foeticide, the United Nations Population Fund said on Monday.

More than 7,000 Armenian women have had selective abortions over the past five years, according to a new study carried out by the UN Population Fund with the Armenian health ministry and the Institute of Perinatology.

The gender ratio of births is 110-120 boys to 100 girls, higher than the accepted norm of 102-106 boys to 100 girls, the study said.

The trend could cause demographic problems for the small ex-Soviet state, UN Population Fund official Garik Hayrapetyan told a news conference in Yerevan.

"In ten to 20 years, we will face a deficit of women -- that means, of potential mothers," Hayrapetyan said.

Selective abortion is a problem in countries like China and India.

But it has also reached "worrying proportions" in Caucasus states Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly said in a resolution on gender selection in October.

The resolution said that pressure on women to have selective abortions should be seen as "a form of psychological violence".

[Image via Deb Collins on Flickr, Creative Commons licensed]