WATERING THE NEIGHBOUR'S GARDEN: THE GROWING - CICRED

80
F. MESLÉ –J. VALLIN –I. BADURASHVILI
order and that observed for the preceding orders. In 1997-1999, 184
male third order births were observed for 100 females against 125 and
119 for second and third order births respectively. The average for all
birth orders combined was 135. 5
Figure 5 Trend in sex ratio at birth by order, (3-year moving averages), Georgia
and Armenia, 1985-2000
Sex ratio
180
160
140
120
100
Georgia
Birth order 1
Birth order 2
Birth order 3
Total
80
1986 1991 1996
180
160
140
120
100
Armenia
80
1986 1991 1996
Source: computed by the authors from surveys data (Serbanescu et al., 2001; ANSS and ORC
Macro, 2001).
This large difference between the birth orders suggests that if the
excess masculinity of births results from parents’ behaviour, it is also
significantly associated with the stages of family formation and the
concern with having a certain balance of sexes.
5. An indirect indicator of son preference
Neither the Armenian nor the Georgian surveys include any questions
pertaining to whether the parents have any preference regarding
the sex of their children. Nevertheless, it is possible to examine the
influence of these preferences, at least following the first birth, by
analyzing the parity progression ratios by the sex of the children already
born (Figure 6).
5 This figure is much higher than that given by Civil Registration data for the same
three years (116). One, if not both, of the two sources is surely incorrect but the
direction of the difference reinforces the idea that the phenomenon is in no way
linked to the deterioration of birth registration.