Abstract

The male/female sex ratio (SR) and its age-specific patterns vary considerably across time and place. The SR generally begins male-biased at birth and becomes female-biased later in life, but this relationship should respond to historical trends and events. Temporal trends in SRs remain largely unstudied and formal demographic relationships are not well defined. We (1) define SRs in a life table framework, (2) estimate the age at which the number of males and females achieves parity—the sex ratio crossover (SRX)—using basic life table methods, and (3) explore historical and international patterns in these trends. Using publicly-available data from the Human Mortality Database, we construct SR and SRX measures from period and cohort life tables. Analyses explore temporal patterns for seven countries in different global regions since 1850. Overall temporal trends show the SRX advancing to older ages. The SRX also appears to respond to historical events such as wars and epidemics. The measure is simple to construct from life table data, and provides additional insight into the historical context of gender dynamics.

摘要

男女比例（SR）及其特定年龄的模式在不同的时间和地点存在很大差异。SR通常在出生时就开始偏向男性，而在以后的生活中变得偏向女性，但是这种关系应该响应历史趋势和事件。SR的时间趋势在很大程度上尚未得到研究，并且正式的人口关系还没有很好地定义。我们（1）在寿命表框架中定义SR，（2）使用基本寿命表方法估算男女达到同等年龄的年龄（性别比交叉（SRX）），以及（3）探索历史和这些趋势中的国际模式。使用人类死亡率数据库中的公开数据，我们根据周期和队列寿命表构建SR和SRX度量。分析探索了自1850年以来全球不同地区的七个国家的时间格局。总体时间趋势表明，SRX逐渐趋于老年人化。SRX似乎也响应了历史事件，例如战争和流行病。该方法很容易从生命表数据中构建，并提供了有关性别动态历史背景的更多见解。