Yerevan /Mediamax/. According to the research conducted by the UN Population Fund, in Armenia the greatest imbalances are seen not at the birth of the first or second child, but from the third child on (up to 160 boys born for every 100 girls).

Werner Haug, Regional director of the United Nations Population Fund for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, stated this sending a letter to British The Economist's article as a reply.

Mediamax reports.

"This means that parents typically resort to abortion to realise their preference for a son when the first two attempts to give birth to a boy fail. There are no indications of reverse sex selection (parents preferring girls when the first child is a son)", noted Werner Haug.

According to the Director of Fund, the trend is clear: as family sizes shrink, parents want to be sure one of their kids is a boy.

"But our studies show that the deeply patriarchal nature of societies in the Caucasus, coupled with an abortion culture inherited from the Soviet period, play a far more important role than the region’s “frozen conflicts”, noted Werner Haug in his letter.

He expressed the opinion that without improving the status of women and girls, the practice of selective abortion will continue, with devastating consequences for future generations.