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ShareSHANGHAI: China's gender imbalance is so serious that almost 25 million men will remain bachelors in a decade from now.
If current birth ratios were to continue, between 2015 and 2030 there will be 25 million men in China with no hope of finding a mate, according to a study issued by National Institute of Demographic Studies, France in October last year.
However, the Chinese government's programme "Care for Girls" offers hope that the imbalance can be corrected.
The ambitious programme launched by the State Population and Family Planning Commission (SCPFP) in 2003 in 24 pilot counties provides social benefits, including cash payments, to families with only girls, in order to boost the status of women.
The programme is credited with reducing the boys-to-girls ratio in those counties from 133.8 by 100 to 119.6 by 100 over the past three years.
The SCPFP will now extend the programme to all provincial and regions, Xinhua news agency reported.
A family with one or two girls will receive 30,000 yuan ($3,750) worth of subsidies before the girls are married.
In rural China couples are allowed to have a second child if the first one is a girl.
