Sex-Selective Abortion and the Collapse of the Soviet Union

Abstract

Elevated Sex Ratios at Birth (SRBs) an indicator of sex-selective abortion have been documented in many countries worldwide. This paper examines the causal effect of the Soviet Union’s collapse on SRBs in Post-Soviet countries, using a difference-in-differences research design. Our findings indicate that the collapse resulted in a rise in SRBs by approximately 1.5 percent, peaking in the late 1990s before subsiding in the 2000s. This result suggests that the collapse of the Soviet Union explains 64 percent of the approximately 192,000 missing girls in the Post-Soviet states in the 1990s. Furthermore, the impact of the collapse on SRBs was observed in both high and low son-preference countries, with the effect being roughly twice as large in high son-preference countries, where it persisted into the late 2000s. The conventional theory of pre-natal sex selection typically involves the introduction of modern sex-determination technology into a cultural environment which values sons over daughters. Our findings suggest that economic and political shocks can also be key drivers behind increases in sex-selective abortion and SRBs.