Sex-selective abortion has caused the premature death of over 23 million females, according to the first-ever systematic global study of sex ratio imbalance.

Demographers have noted the phenomenon of skewed sex ratios for decades. Millions of females are missing because of sex-selective abortion. This has led to increased trafficking in children and women. It has also led to increased rates of suicide, depression, and substance abuse among unmarried men. But the global scale of the phenomenon and how many girls exactly have been aborted has relied on uncertain estimates.

Now, for the first time, demographers have undertaken to study the phenomenon of skewed sex ratios due to sex-selective abortion systematically across the globe in a study published in the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences with funding from the University of Singapore.